


The Call of the Sea

by MadameAthena



Series: Ocean's Tide [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amnesia, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kidnapping, Little Mermaid Elements, Minor Character Death, Multi, fast burn, these girls don't waste time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-01-12 15:49:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18449717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameAthena/pseuds/MadameAthena
Summary: Sora and Roxas, mer-twins who have lived simple lives suddenly had their lives flipped around when they discovered mysterious ancient ruins. Awaking an ancient merman with the help of a human witch sets in motion events to save merkind.





	1. Chapter 1

The halls were silent, the sound of shoes clicking on the ground making the only sound. A man walked the hallway with purpose, his long grey hair softly swaying behind him. Soon he reached a doorway, pushing the doors open the man entered the room. The room was a large open space, desks covering half the room, different tools and equipment littering the desks. The people sitting at the tables were intensely studying things under microscopes or dissecting small samples. On the other side of the room held multiple tanks, the tanks reached just below the ceiling, a thick gel like liquid filling the tanks. In each tank was a shape, the colour and lighting obscuring the shapes true forms. The man took a quick look around, looking for one of the researchers. Finding the other man, he walked towards the desks.

“How is the research going?” The man asked. The man at the table stopped his work to turn around, his piercing green eyes looking at the man.

“All is well, at this rate we will have more knowledge than we will know what to do with.” A large grin overtook the researchers face. The man gave a short nod before turning away from the researcher. He strode out of the room, confidence in each step as he made his way back to his own office, he had work to do after all.

 

He would always remember the first time his father told him the tale of merpeople, some called them beautiful, their songs so sweet to the ears that you just can’t help yourself. Others call them mischievous, troublemakers who spend their days sinking ships and ruining fishing trips. But his father had called them what they were, just another being who humans had made wars with. He spoke of them and their customs, how he dedicated his life to knowing more about them, and their existence of over 400 years ago.

“I named you and your brother as a merperson would their own child.” He had said once, back then the thought had filled him with pride, but now it meant little. He knew much of the merpeople, his father's’ words constantly echoing throughout his mind as he worked.

‘They all look different, each with different needs and wants.’  
‘They are strong, their tails can shred skin if hit too hard.’  
‘Though I don’t know where the myth of their voices came from, not all are gifted in the art.’

As he sat in his office, the words and tales ringing in his ears he watched as the door opened. A man with bright blue hair walked in, folders in his arms.

“Sir we are close to finding a new location.” The man smiled.

“Good work Saïx, you can return to your post now, inform me if there is any more news.” Saïx nodded, placing the folders on the man’s desk before making his leave. The man looked at the folder, in it were possible locations for merpeople activity, they were surprisingly easy to find if you went looking. The man gave a small sigh, closing the folder and leaning back in his chair. His father's voice echoing in his head.

“The merpeople hold many secrets to the past that we couldn’t even imagine, so remember Xemnas, when the chance arrives, take it and never let go.” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Riku remembers the first time he heard of merpeople, just like everyone else he heard of them from stories, tales from long ago of fisherman and sailors who lost themselves to the temptation of the mermaid’s song. Riku thought that was stupid, to drop everything just because someone can sing. Kairi thought mermaids were romantic, the idea of people who live their whole lives beneath the waves, the beauty they held. She loved them. Riku hated them.

One day while the two were playing on the beach they saw someone far out on the rocks. They looked young, at least younger than Riku and they were lying on the rocks. Riku looked over at Kairi and nodded, rushing over towards the rock cliffs that adults had told them so many times were too dangerous to play on. As the got closer the person became more recognisable, their short spiky hair, jutting in every direction. They had no shirt on, and as the two got closer Kairi grabbed Riku’s arm stopping him in his tracks.

“Kairi?” Riku asked, annoyed at being stopped so suddenly, Riku looked at Kairi’s face seeing the excitement practically radiation off her is waves.

“They have a tail!” She whispered. Riku looked at the boy, seeing a deep blue tail, with a fin coming out the back.

“He’s a mermaid.” Riku said, dumbstruck. He didn’t think they existed, only living within tales told by parents to teach their kids life lessons. He had a feeling that adults didn’t believe in them either. Yet here one was, laying on a rock looking around with the dumbest smile Riku had ever seen.

“He’s not a mermaid, he’s a merman.” Kairi said, Riku looked at her, confusion evident in his eyes. Before Kairi could get another word in the young merman pushed himself up, sitting on the rock. He sucked in a breath, holding a hand to his chest. Was he going to sing? Riku had heard of tales where merpeople had beautiful singing voices, he vaguely wondered if he would lose himself, walking into the sea with no control over his actions. The merman opened his mouth, lyrics slowly coming out in a language Riku and Kairi didn’t recognise, what Riku did recognise was how much the merman sucked at singing. His voice was wobbly at best, unable to keep a tone. Riku was shocked, were only mermaids good at singing, or did this one guy suck. Riku jumped out from his hiding spot running over to the merman.

“Your singing sucks.” He said, now close to the merman. The merman stopped suddenly, shock evident in his blue eyes.

“That’s not very nice.” The merman said with a frown, his cheeks puffed out. Riku laughed at him, causing the merman to pout even more. Slowly Kairi came out from the hiding spot, walking over to the two. The merman saw her and started smiling again.

“Are you two humans?” he asked. The two looked at each other, what kind of question was that.

“Are you a merman?” Kairi asked. The merman laughed nodding his head.

“I’m Sora, nice to meet you.” Riku looked at the merman, didn’t he know you’re not meant to give out your name to strangers.

“I’m Kairi and this is Riku.” Kairi said, Riku looked at her shocked. Apparently, he was the only one who knew this rule.

“What are you doing here?” Kairi asked. Sora looked away, a bit bashful.

“I was practicing my singing, we have a concert coming up but Sebastian won’t let me sing because he said I’m ‘tone deaf’ whatever that means.”

“Maybe we can help.” Kairi said, Riku looked surprised, they were suddenly helping the merman.

“Me and Riku have to do choir so if we all practice together, maybe we can help you.” Sora looked at the two, hope shining in his eyes. Riku gave a small sigh before smiling at Sora.

“Sure, why not it’s not like we have anything else to do.” And so, the three got to work.

They kept meeting every few days at the rocks, away from prying eyes and ears. Sora never got better, confusion evident between the three till Riku asked an adult what being tone deaf meant. It took ages for Sora to stop crying. Eventually their little meetings became play dates, with Riku and Kairi teaching Sora human customs and games, and Sora doing the same. They kept it a secret from the adults, not wanting to rat out their new friend. The three of them became close, sharing a strong bond. Then as most things do, fate decided to play a cruel trick on them.

Roxas, Sora’s twin brother had been getting more and more worried about Sora. He would go on trips to somewhere he wouldn’t tell even Roxas, and would talk about people Roxas didn’t know. At first Roxas assumed that Sora had made some friends in a passing pod, like Roxas had with Xion but the visits went on far pass the pods leaving. Eventually Roxas decided to follow Sora. He had so many thoughts swimming around in his head, was Sora in danger, why wouldn’t he tell anyone. 

Out of all the possibilities he hadn’t expected humans. Roxas knew of humans, beings who came for their scales and ruined their home. Roxas was scared, scared for his brother and scared for his home. Squall always told them to stay away from the humans, to only look from places where humans never ventured if they wanted to go to the surface. But Sora, Sora was talking to the humans, laughing and playing with them, and it scared Roxas.

So Roxas swam over to Sora, pushing his tail to go as fast as it could, quickly grabbing his brothers arm he dragged him away from the humans, pushing his tail to go faster and faster. Eventually the shore was a spec in the distance. Roxas stopped, catching his breath as he held tightly onto his brothers’ arm. Sora looked at him, shocked at suddenly being pulled away.

“Roxas?” asked Sora confused as to how his brother had even found him.

“Sora are you ok?” Roxas looked over his brother, checking him for any signs of injuries. Sora shook of Roxas’s grip.

“I’m fine Rox, I was just hanging out with my friends.” Roxas looked horrified.

“Sora, those were humans, humans hurt merpeople, you’re lucky that they didn’t hurt you.” Sora looked at him confused.

“But they’re my friends, Riku and Kairi would never do that.” Roxas scoffed.

“Maybe when they’re young but what about when they’re older, or what if they told an adult. Humans hunt people like us Sora, for all you know they could have just been pretending to be your friends. Remember what Squall told us, he’s had to fight off humans who have come for us-”

“WELL MAYBE SQUALL ISN’T RIGHT!” Sora yelled, his whole body shaking. “I HATE YOU ROXAS!” Roxas froze, the words ringing in his head. Sora swam away from Roxas back towards Atlantica.

In the end Sora never when back, Roxas’s words stabbing him like knives every time he thought about going back, what if what he said was true, then what. Roxas felt terrible for what he said, and kept his distance from Sora for weeks. Eventually the two made up, Roxas never telling anyone of Sora’s childhood trips, and Sora apologising from saying harsh things at Roxas. Riku and Kairi never saw their friend again, their memories of their merfriend slowly fading with age. And life moved on.


	2. Chapter 2

Sora swam through the caves, his tail pushing him along through the waves, Sora looked behind him, seeing his twin Roxas trying to catch up with him. Roxas’s tail, a smooth tail with a black and white pattern adorning it pushed him forwards towards Sora. Roxas had a grin on his face as the two raced, following the currents around their home Atlantica. It had been 10 long years since Sora’s trips to the surface, and while he never went back, his adventurous spirit remained, sparking curiosity within him to explore the ocean as much as he could. Roxas, not one to fall behind always joined his brother, even if he thought some of his adventures were ridiculous or dangerous.

“Is that all you got?” Roxas asked, swimming past Sora. Sora laughed, knowing full well that a dolphin was faster that a killer whale.

“You’re on!” Sora yelled, picking up speed as he shot past his twin. The two swam around, racing with other sea creatures for short lengths before deciding to make their way back home. The trip was a short one, the two preferring to do their races in the comfort of the barrier that protected their home.

“Sora, Roxas.” The two looked over at an older man swimming towards them. His long brown hair lazily floating behind him.

“Squall.” The two called out, swimming towards their mentor. Squall grunted, annoyed at them calling him by that name, but knowing it was a futile task to get them to stop.

“What’s up Squall?” Roxas asked, he knew that they didn’t have any lessons today, what with Squall being the captain of the royal guard keeping him busy most days.

“I just wanted to let you two know not to swim out west.” He said, looking specifically at Roxas. Roxas grinned.

“Is something happening?” Sora asked, curiosity filling him.

“The currents have been rocky, flowing in unnatural directions and merfolk who have swum that way often ended up back where they started, confused as to where they had been going in the first place.” Both boys looked at each other, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“It’s dangerous out there and neither of you need to go do something reckless and get hurt.”

The twins wilted at that, it was true that some of their adventures had ended up with a scrape of two but the thought wasn’t going to deter them from a new adventure.

“We’ll stay safe Squall, promise.” Sora said, quickly grabbing his brothers’ hand before jetting of towards the castle. Squall gave a sigh, not knowing if that meant they were staying out of the matter or not. Probably not.  
As the two got to the castle they swam over to their friend Ariel. She looked at the two of them a smile breaking out on her face.

“Hey guys it's good to see you.” The three shared a small hug. “Come on let’s go to my room and you can tell me all about your new adventure.” The three of them made their way to Ariel's room. After most of Ariel's sisters moved out, going to different kingdoms Ariel had convinced her father to let her have her own room, it wasn’t massive, with a clam bed to one wall, a mirror and desk on the other side. The three made their way inside, sitting on the bed as the twins told of their latest adventure.

“Oh yeah Ariel, do you know what’s happening to the west?” Roxas asked. Sora nodded.

“Yeah Squall told us that it’s really dangerous and not to go. It was really weird.” Ariel looked at the two for a second, trying to remember what they were talking about before smiling.

“I heard that people can’t travel that way due to the currents being unnatural, it bounces them around till they just end up where they started. It seems that some unnatural air source is affecting the ocean.”

“Do you think it’s magic?” Sora asked, Roxas paused at the thought, of course magic existed, beings who were born with a magical infinity could easily control it. Those were the witches. But witches were known for doing horrible things to merpeople, stealing their souls or cursing them. That was why all the witches were banished, at least that’s what Squall told them. Recently though Roxas wasn’t fully believing what Squall had to say.

“Most likely, if it’s making everything unnatural.” Roxas pointed out. The three of them looked at each other.

“Let’s check it out!” Sora exclaimed, bouncing around the room. Roxas sighed a little, laughing at his brother’s enthusiasm. He had to admit he was curious too, and Squalls warning making him want to go even more, whatever was happening was worrying the royal guard, and that was rare.

“Ariel you wanna join us?” Sora asked. Sometimes Ariel would join them, always interested in human artefacts, Sora would explain the use of some of them to her, never quite explaining where his knowledge came from but Ariel was excited enough to never really question it.

“I would but if father found out,” Ariel let out a small sigh, “he probably wouldn’t let me leave my room for weeks.” Roxas patted her shoulder.

“If we find anything human, we’ll bring it back for you ok.” He said, bringing a small smile to Ariel’s face. Soon the twins said their goodbyes, going back to their home to pack and get ready for the next day.

The next day the twins set off, their small bag holding all the food they would need for their hopefully short trip. Roxas had his two daggers, both made of strong bone. Sora had his bo spear, folded into its 3 sections. They swam to the west border making sure not to run into any possible guards, especially Squall. As they got to the gate of the town, they saw the guards standing in front of the gate, there were a few, all in varying sizes. Sora and Roxas swam up higher trying to sneak past the guards. It took a bit of time, ducking into cover whenever the guards looked up. Eventually the two made it out the gate, gunning it towards the west.

The two went west, hoping to find the currents that everyone was talking about, maybe that would give them a clue on where to look. As they swam, they would stop and ask different sea creatures, hoping for a hint. Most were clueless, giving vague information at best and the two brothers soon found themselves swimming aimlessly. Eventually the two stopped at a small cavern, taking a break.

“You know, for all of Squalls worries we can’t even find the currents he was talking about.” Roxas said aggressively taking a bite out of a kelp bar. Sora sighed lying on the cavern floor.

With all the reports of this happening he thought it shouldn’t be this hard to find. As the two of them rested, mulling over what to do next a small octopus swam into the cave, looking quite panicked. Sora swam over to the octopus, giving it a light nudge on the shoulder.

“Are you ok?” Sora asked the octopus. It looked startled at Sora’s presence before quickly calming down.

“Those damn currents blew me off course, now it’s gonna take me ages to get where I was going.” Roxas and Sora looked at each other.

“Where were the currents?” Roxas asked. The octopus looked at them strangely of a second before answering.

“They’re about 100 feet down towards the west, can’t miss ‘em.” Sora and Roxas looked at each other, they finally had a lead.

“Thanks sir!” Sora said, quickly packing up their stuff. The octopus gave them a strange look before shrugging. 

Once all their stuff was packed Sora grabbed Roxas and darted out heading in the newly found direction. As the went further down they realised that they were going into the depths. Most didn’t go there due to the lack of sunlight and the predators becoming far more dangerous. The two kept going though, staying close to each other. As the went further down they started to feel the effects of the currents, cutting off the slow stream they had been on. They soon stopped watching the fast-moving currents throw small creatures around. The octopus had been right. The two followed the stream, hoping that it would show them what was causing the problem in the first place.

Eventually the stream led them to a large underground cavern, in front of them was endless miles of bleached white coral, with a large castle like structure in the centre. The building was tall, golden in colour with large towers shooting out from all directions. The building looked old, parts of it fall into disrepair as barnacles and moss grew on different sides. Some of the towers were laying on the floor next to the building, broken into large chunks. The main entrance looked to be together, with the door looking almost brand new. The two looked at each other before heading inside. As the entered the whole building looked different. The walls were a pure white, with chains that seemed to glow as they swam through the halls. All the rooms were pristine, completely untouched and preserved.

As they swam through, they felt eyes on them eventually they stopped.  
“You can come out.” Roxas said, hand near his daggers. A young girl stepped out, she was wearing a short white dress, her soft blond hair gently sitting on her shoulder. Around her she had a bubble, seemingly keeping the water out. The shocking part was her legs, pale with simple white sandals adorning them.

“Hello.” She said, walking towards the two of them. Roxas straightened up, looking over the human girl. Sora meanwhile swam over to her.

“Hi, what are you doing in here?” he asked. The girl looked over the two before softly smiling.

“I live here.” She stated. Roxas was surprised, humans lived on the surface not underwater like them, unless…

“Are you a witch?” he asked, narrowing his gaze at her. She let out a small laugh.

“Yes, but you can call me Naminé.” Before Roxas had any time to react Sora swam closer to Naminé.

“I’m Sora and this is my brother Roxas. It’s nice to meet you Naminé.” Sora said, putting his hand out for a shake. Naminé looked surprised for a moment before shaking his hand.

“So, you’re a witch huh, that’s cool.” Sora said. Naminé laughed a little the smile on her face growing.

“Thank you, that’s not a very popular opinion.” She looked down. “it’s nice to meet someone who doesn’t immediately attack me.” Roxas looked at her.

“What do you mean?” He asked. As far as he knew witches always initiated first, but it seemed like recently Squall’s information had been wrong.

“Lots of people have been coming to this castle looking for something but the moment they see me they attack me. I have to use my magic to get them too leave.” She said sadly, the grip on her arm tightening slightly. Sora looked appalled.

“Why would they do that! I’m sorry that happened to you Naminé.” Naminé looked up surprised. Suddenly Roxas had a thought.

“Naminé, are you the reason people have been losing parts of their memories?” She looked at him a bit sheepish.

“I only make them forget about me and this castle, my family has been protecting this place for too long to lose it now.” That made Sora and Roxas pause. Protecting it, why was she protecting the castle. Finally, Sora spoke.

“Are you protecting the cause of the current disruptions.” Naminé looked at them confused.

“Disruptions, is something happening?” she asked. The boys filled her in on the situation with the currents. She thought it over for a moment.

“I think he’s waking up.” She said finally. The two looked at her.

“Who’s he?” Sora said. Naminé smiled before gesturing for them to follow her.

The two followed Naminé through the twisting halls of the castle, no matter where they went it all looked the same. Naminé walked with purpose though, taking deliberate turns as she navigated the maze of the castle. Finally, they stood in front of a set of doors. The design was simple, the same white as the rest of the building, with chains that seemed to move with the light. Yet there was something different about the door, the twins could feel the energy that was radiating off it, an ancient magic that had sealed the door long ago. They looked at Naminé.

“Try touching the door” she said walking over to stand next to it. The brothers looked at each other before placing their hand on the door. As they touched the door a bright light emanated from their hands, slowly releasing the magic covering the door. They looked on in shock as the door slowly swung open. Naminé looked at the two of them in surprise, quickly schooling the expression before walking into the room. The twins soon followed her.

Inside was another merman, looking slightly older than the three of them, he had blond spiky hair, a broken horn on the top of his head. His tail was a silvery grey, with dots covering the sides of it. The twins looked at Naminé.

“This is Ventus, my family has been protecting him since he first went to sleep.” They all swam up to Ventus, watching him snore softly. He had different wounds on his body, a large slash mark on his side, the broken of horn. He looked like he had gone through hell. Naminé looked him over, watching the almost invisible wisps of magic float of him.

“Sora, Roxas why don’t you try waking him up, I think it will fix your problem.” The two looked at Naminé then put a hand on each of his shoulders, giving him a gentle shake. 

Slowly the merman’s eyes began to flutter, opening as the rest of his body woke. The twins took their hands off him, giving the waking merman some space. Ventus looked around the room, slowly rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His brain slowly chugging along as everything caught up from his long sleep. He looked at Naminé before smiling softly.

“Morning Nixamen.” Ventus said slowly getting up from the throne he was on. Naminé looked at him sadly before replying.

“It’s nice to meet you Ventus, I’m Naminé, Nixamen was my ancestor.” Ventus looked at her, a bit surprised before slowly sinking back into his chair.

“I’m guess I was asleep for longer than a few weeks.” He said.

“It’s been over 400 years.” Naminé said, putting a supportive hand on his shoulder. Ven sat in the throne of a while, a blank look on his face as he thought about all the lost time. Eventually he slowly swam off the chair placing himself in front of the three other people in the room.

“Well I suppose introductions are in order, I’m Ventus but you can call me Ven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's tail species  
> \- Sora: Dolphin  
> \- Roxas: Orca / Killer Whale  
> \- Ven: Narwhal


	3. Chapter 3

After introductions were made the group hadn’t known what to do next. Ven, still reeling from the gap of time missed wasn’t quite sure where to go. Naminé having finished her family’s task now had nothing to do. Sora and Roxas had dealt with the cause of the currents and knew they had to go home.

“What are you two going to do now?” Sora asked, looking at Naminé and Ven. The two snapped out of their own musing, looking at Sora then each other.

“I don’t know, I mean if it’s been over 400 years then I don’t exactly know anyone.” Ven said looking down. He knew that 400 years was a long time, yet a small part of him held out hope for his friends, or at least their ancestors still being around.

“Now that Ven’s awake, I don’t have a duty to this castle. I’m… not sure what to do.” Naminé admitted. She knew that technically she could go back to live out her days on the surface, but after all that had happened, it wasn’t high on her list of things to do. Sora looked at Roxas unsure what to do. He didn’t want to just leave his new friends to fend for themselves, especially since they seemingly had nowhere to go. Roxas gave a short sigh before looking at the two.

“If you two want you can come back to Atlantica with us, I’m not sure how they’ll feel about you Naminé but we might be able to sneak you in.” The two looked at Roxas.

“That would really help out,” Ven said, then he turned to Naminé “I can help you out on the whole human front Naminé if you want.” Naminé looked at Ven in surprise before nodding. 

Ven swam up to Naminé giving her a quick look over before closing his eyes. Slowly a soft green light illuminated both Ven and Naminé, gently glowing around their figures. The energy moved the sea, small puffs of air rising off the two. The water began to move, slowly gaining speed as it wrapped around Naminé’s form. The light began to glow brighter and brighter before in a flash it was gone. In its place was Naminé, her soft white dress becoming a shirt, cutting off at her waist, below her waist was a tail. It was a white colour, with two fins protruding from the back, one near her waist while the other was further down.

The twins looked at Ven is shock, that had been magic. They knew Naminé was a witch but Ven, the two had never seen magic uses to close at they were surprised with how warm it had felt. Naminé looked at her form before looking at Ven.

“I didn’t realise you could use magic Ven, I can only create illusions but this is on another level.” She said impressed. Ven looked at the three of them confused.

“Of course I can, all merpeople can.” He said, Sora and Roxas looked at Ven in shock, was that true, maybe back 400 years ago. Ven looked at the surprised faces on Sora and Roxas. “All merpeople have a latent magic ability, when you’re born someone teaches you how to control and use it. Did you two not know that?” Ven asked. The twins shook their heads.

“As far as we know only witches can use magic.” Roxas said. Ven looked confused.

“Witches? Do you mean mages, they do have a higher resonance with their magic,” Ven looked at the twins “I know you two have magic, I can feel it radiating off you two, maybe learning how to harness it became a lost art after the war?” he guessed, the twins shrugged helplessly.

“If you want, I can teach you how to use it.” Ven told them. Sora’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“That would be awesome!” he said, swimming up to Ven. Ven laughed, smiling back at Sora.

Roxas coughed “Shouldn’t our first priority be getting home?” he stated, looking at the three merpeople. The three laughed before swimming to Roxas.

“Let’s go then.”

Getting back to Atlantica was far easier than finding the castle, the currents that were once rapidly flowing in different directions had now calmed down, allowing the four travellers easy travel. They spent the trip chatting, getting to know each other a bit better. Ven explained a bit about his time, even telling Naminé about her ancestor. Naminé in turn told the three about modern day humans, or as much as she knew. Sora and Roxas told tales of what merpeople were like, explaining the views on magic and humans. Ven knew that the animosity between humans and merpeople wouldn’t be great after the war, but after 400 year he had hoped it would have settled down. Soon the four had made it to the gate of Atlantica.

At the front of the gate were two guards, both were young, one had blond hair, covered mainly by a dark blue beanie. His tail was a more grey-silver colour, shifting into a deeper sliver blue on the back. The other guard was slightly taller, his more tanned skin standing out. His tail was an orange colour, with darker stripes of orange. Roxas groaned.

“Of course it had to be these two.” He said, annoyance clear in his tone. Sora laughed softly.

“You know them?” Ven asked.

“Unfortunately.” Roxas said. Sora started laughing harder.

“Those two are Seifer and Rai, part of the Atlantica Disciplinary Committee, they’re in training to become knights.” Sora said. Roxas huffed. “They like to blame anything going wrong on Roxas and his friends.” Sora continued. “Roxas and his friends end up having to swim all over just to prove that they’re innocent.”

“And we end up fixing the issue in the process.” Roxas said bitterly. The four swam closer to the gate, Naminé slowly coming up behind Ven.

“Well well well, look who we have.” Seifer sneered. Roxas rolled his eyes.

“Can you move, we’re trying to get in.” Roxas said glaring a Seifer, Seifer glared back.

“See that’s strange considering that no one was meant to leave town from thing gate.” Sora rubbed the back of his neck, laughing nervously. Roxas scoffed.

“Did your orders say you can’t let anyone in?” He asked, a smug smile appearing on his face. Seifer glared, folding his arms before moving to let them in.

“You got lucky this time blenny-shit”

The four made their way in, Ven waving to the two guards. Seifer rolled his eyes before swimming back to his post. As the four made their way in Ven and Naminé looked around the city. Atlantica was huge, spiralling pillars lining the town. The towers shot up, spiral is shape, lights coming out of the large windows. The castle in the back of town was impressive. High up on a small mount the castles golden towers illuminated in the dark ocean. Merfolk of all kinds swum around, rushing from one building to another. A soft current flowed through out the town. Ven and Naminé trailed after Sora and Roxas, eventually stopping at a small house.

“This is our house.” Sora exclaimed, looking in his small bag for the keys.

“We need to drop off everything before we head out again.” Roxas explained.

“Where are we going next?” Ven asked. Still looking around.

“Probably the castle. Our friend Ariel’s current escort might have some ideas of where to start.” Roxas said. With a small hurrah Sora brought his hand out of the bag, holding a simple shell key. In a quick and practiced motion, he opened the door, pushing it open and swimming in. Everyone followed him inside.

“Welcome to – “Sora started, stopping in his tracks as his eyes landed on the two mermen in their house. Ven and Naminé looked at each other in worry before Sora smiled.

“Squall, Cloud what are you guys doing here?” he asked, swimming over to greet the two. The two mermen in the room looked at Sora. One, a taller man with long brown hair sighed. His brown tail swaying where he floated. The other, a tall man with blond pointy hair chuckled at Sora’s question. His own silver spotted tail unmoving. Roxas sighed a little before also swimming up to the men.

“I had a feeling that you two had gone off on another ‘adventure’ but this is the first time you’ve brought back people.” Squall exclaimed, looking at Ven and Naminé, Naminé ducked behind Ven who simply looked at the two mermen.

“They helped up stop the current issue!” Sora said, Roxas punched his brother’s arm. Squall put his face in his hand, sighing.

“Even after I explicitly told you two not to go.” He said, acceptance seeping into his voice. Cloud looked at Ven and Naminé.

“You two helped fix the issue?” He asked, Ven nodded his head.

“Yeah, we were passing through the area when we ran into Sora and Roxas, we found out a cave wall had opened up causing air vents to affect the currents, they helped us cover up the cave.” Ven lied. “We couldn’t have closed it without their help.” Naminé added softly from behind Ven. Cloud nodded his head, putting a hand on Squall’s shoulder before he could protest.

“Well thank you for looking after them, I’m glad they could help you.” Cloud said. Squall swam over to Ven holding his hand out. Ven happily took it, shaking his hand before letting go. Roxas looked at the exchange stunned, they had actually bought Ven’s lie. Roxas immediately perked up.

“Hey Squall, Cloud do you know if anyone in town knows about the Great War.” He asked, looking at the adults. The adults looked surprised with the question, looking at each other briefly before answering Roxas.

“Aerith might.” Squall answered. Ven looked at Roxas, a grin growing on his face.

“Why are you looking into it?” Squall asked, looking at Roxas.

“Ven wanted to know more about what happened, but there isn’t exactly a lot of information to just look though.” Roxas said. Squall sighed, looking at the four merpeople. 

“Stay out of trouble.” He said before swimming off, Cloud soon followed, saying goodbye as he went. Once the door closed the twins both let out large breaths, sinking into their couch. Ven looked at them both chuckling to himself.

“So, who’s Aerith?” he asked. Sora looked at him.

“Aerith is the town herbalist and storyteller, if anyone knows anything it would be her. But before that we should rest, my tails tired.” Everyone laughed, gaining a sheepish look from Sora.

“That sounds like a plan.” Ven said making his way to a seat, Naminé took the other chair.  
The four relaxed, chatting about nothing as they let the tension from their tails melt away.

“So Ven, what are you hoping to find?” Sora asked. Ven looked at him, pausing for a minute to figure out the answer, he wasn’t fully sure to be honest, answers mainly.

“Maybe I can find some of my friends, or their ancestors a the least. If I can’t find that here then maybe I can find some answers on the surface.” That gave Sora and Roxas pause, the surface was a sensitive topic ever since they were kids, it had been the cause of their worst fight after all. Roxas thought about it for a minute before looking at Ven.

“How can you get on the surface?” He asked, causing Sora to look at him in surprise.

“It’s not too hard, it’s the same type of magic as what I used to make Naminé a mermaid.” Ven explained. Roxas thought it over.

“How did you even do that?” He asked. Ven thought his words over.

“It’s kind of like a mix between a transformation spell and an illusion, I don’t know everything myself but together they alter the structure of the body. I’m not really sure what factor chooses the species of tail you get though.” Roxas and Sora nodded, taking in all the knowledge. Roxas hesitated for a second before asking Ven.

“If you go to the surface, can we come with you?” Ven smiled nodding.

“The more the merrier.” Sora looked at Roxas in disbelief, Roxas of all people wanted to go to the surface, it was unbelievable. Roxas saw Sora staring and looked down, mumbling.

“If we go to the surface looking like humans, maybe you can find your human friends.” Sora was stunned.

“But I thought- “he started.

“I know but, after everything that’s happened, I think there’s more to everything than what Squall says.” Roxas said, looking at Sora. Suddenly Sora tackled Roxas hugging him tightly, his face sporting a large smile.

“Thank you, thank you thank you, this is going to be amazing!” He exclaimed. Roxas laughed slightly, embracing his brother back. Ven and Naminé looked on, small smile on their faces. After letting go Sora shot up, swimming quickly in a small circle.

“Come on guys, we need to see Aerith right, let's go!” Everyone laughed at his enthusiasm, getting up the four swam out the house, towards the herbalist’s home.

Along the way Roxas stopped, hearing a loud noise, turning to the side he quickly caught sight of his friends before they all barreled into him. The group spun around for a moment before they all split apart, the three newcomers eyes lighting up upon seeing Roxas. 

“Roxas! We’ve been looking all over for you.” Pence said.

“Yeah, when Ariel told us you left without even telling up we were gonna go to the ruins without you.” Hayner added. Olette laughed.

“You going to introduce us to your friends?” She asked. Roxas looked back at Ven and Naminé who looked confused.

“Guys this is Ven and Naminé, Ven, Naminé this is Hayner, Pence and Olette.” The two groups waved at each other. 

“So, how’d you meet Rox?” Hayner asked. Roxas pouted at the nickname.

“They helped us with the current problem.” Ven answered, keeping up his lie to Squall. Naminé nodded.

“So you’re Roxas’s friends who Seifer keeps getting into trouble?” Naminé asked. The group sighed at that, causing then to go into a soft giggle fit.

“Yep, that’s us resident trouble makers.” Hayner said.

“He once blamed us for stealing the word ‘picture’, like that’s even possible.” Pence added. Roxas remembered that one, Seifer was trying to use the word in a sentence, forgot it then blamed it on them, insisting they stole the word. 

“Sorry guys but we’re in a bit of a hurry.” Roxas explained. The three nodded, moving to the side.

“Don’t let us stop you, but don’t forget about us just yet Roxas!” Pence said. Roxas laughed before continuing on.

After a short swim the four were in front of Aerith’s home. It was a small structure, a red roof with a hole in it. The walls were a cream colour, stained windows adorning the sides. There were different types of herbs hanging off the walls and roof, flowers of all types of colours delicately placed in a basket at the front of the house. Sora knocked on the door.

“Coming” a soft voice replied from inside. The door soon opened, in the doorway stood a woman. She had brown hair, tied up in a high ponytail, a bow attached to the top. She wore a short-cropped jacket, a pink denim crop top underneath it. Her waist continued into a bell-shaped mass, a jelly like consistency that glowed a soft pink. Beneath the umbrella like shape was a mass of thin tentacles and stingers, that extended down. She looked at the small group before giving them a soft smile, moving to the side to let them in. The four merpeople swam into the house, looking around. The room was lined with columns, one on each side of the room. There was also a second story, with a small gap in the ceiling allowing entrance.

“How can I help you all?” Aerith asked, closing the door behind her. Ven answered.

“I was told you were the storyteller and was wondering if you had any stories of the Great War.” Aerith looked at him, surprise on her face, quickly it faded as she sat down next to them.

“I only have one if that’s ok.” She asked. Ven quickly nodded.

“Long ago, humans and merpeople lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the humans and merpeople constantly fought. But small fragments of light survived... in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children created peace by separating from the humans, by separating ourselves from the humans we have lived in peace for centuries rebuilding our lost culture.” Aerith finished the tale, looking over the merpeople. Sora, Roxas and Naminé looked intrigued, thoughts of what the tale meant swimming around their heads, but Ven looked disappointed.

“Was the story not what you were looking for?” Aerith asked, a small understanding smile on her face, Ven started blushing slightly.

“It was a good story, but it was just well a story.” He said. He remembered the war, how everyone had fought with each other, race be damned. It had been hell. There was no right side in the Great War, all sides trying desperately not to be defeated by the traitor. Ven snapped out of his musing.

“Thank you for telling us, at least I have an idea what to do next” he said, looking apologetic. Aerith just smiled.

“When you figure out the truth, feel free to come back and tell me.” She said before swimming to the upper part of her home. Ven looked at the place she once stood, a smile appearing on his face. Maybe he would. He looked at his friends.

“Sorry this wasn’t helpful.” Sora said, rubbing the back of his neck, Ven just gave a small shrug.

“Guess our next destination is the surface.” Naminé said, swimming over to Ven’s side. Ven looked at Roxas and Sora.

“Do you two need to tell someone you’re leaving?” He asked. Roxas started. Technically they didn’t but he knew that if he didn’t tell Squall he would go crazy looking for them. They also owed it to Ariel to at least say goodbye, especially if they were going to the human world.

“We need to see Ariel.” Sora said. Roxas nodded. As the four we about to leave Aerith came back down, a small bag in her grip. She swam over and handed it to Ven.

“It should help you all keep your magic under check.” She said. The group looked surprised.  
Inside the bag were 3 small necklaces, each with a different design. One had a small crown shape, the second had a heart shape, one end of the heart pointed downwards, spikes coming out of the extended tip. The final one had an upside-down heart similar to the second necklace. There was also a bracelet, small charms filling the length of it. Each charm had a soft glow coming of it, all different colours. Sora took the crown necklace, placing it on, Ven took the second necklace and Roxas took the third. Finally Naminé took the bracelet. Aerith looked at them all.

“The bracelet should help you use elements other than simple barriers. The Necklaces should act as a conduit for your magic, something to store or use magic from.” She explained. The twins looked at her.

“You know magic?” Sora asked.

“Of course, herbalism is more than just mixing together plants, some magic goes into it. Do not worry, the King knows, after all his trident is magical in its own right.” The twins stood there in shock. Ven put his hand out.

“Thank you very much.” Aerith smiled, shaking his hand.

“There are some other items in the bag, I hope they can help if you ever get hurt.” She said, looking at Ven’s broken horn. He lightly placed a hand on it before smiling. The four left the house, thanking Aerith as they headed to the castle. Ariel was more than happy to see them again, after getting introduced to Ven and Naminé she happily listened to what had gone down.

“So you can use magic?” She asked Ven who nodded. She smiled.

“I’ve always known that everyone can use magic, it’s something the royal family has to keep secret. Apparently it’s part of an ancient peace treaty, to keep magic wielders to a minimum on both sides.” Ven looked at her.

“Peace treaty?” Ariel nodded. 

“I don’t know everything about it but i do know that it was made after the Great War. No one wanted a repeat of the War so they tried to make sure magic wouldn’t be a factor.” Ven nodded.

“Thanks for telling me that Ariel.” She simply smiled. 

“I should be thanking you for looking after Sora and Roxas.” 

“Keep safe you two, ok!” She said. The two nodded. 

“Know don’t you think you should see Captain Leon and Captain Cloud?” 

“I’m pretty sure Squall’s on guard duty on the gate to get to the surface anyway. So we’ll see him there.” Roxas explained. “But we’ll need to grab some supplies before we go.”

The group made a quick stop off at the twins house they gathered all the supplies they needed. As they approached the gate, they could make out the form of Squall and Cloud. The two looked at the group.

“Going somewhere?” Squall asked, looking at the bags they held. Roxas looked at Squall.

“I-I want to figure out the truth.” He exclaimed. “There’s so much we don’t know and, I want to figure that out for myself.” Squall looked at Roxas.

“What about you Sora.” He asked. Sora looked at him a moment before responding, with a large grin on his face.

“I wanna help my friends, and if that means leaving, then so be it.” Squall let out a small chuckle, looking at Cloud. Cloud smiled.

“It’s your lives, and it seems you’re not going out without some thought, so good luck.” Roxas and Sora looked surprised at the adults, before quickly hugging the two. The older men looked surprised before returning the hugs. After letting go the group of four make there way out, looking at the town one last time.

“This is it.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The large door opened up as the man walked into the room. It was cold, a large tank filling the middle of the room. Inside the tank the creature sat, glaring at all who passed. The man walked up to the blue haired man.

“How is it Saïx?” He asked. Saïx looked at the creature briefly before handing the man a folder.

“Progress is coming along, this week alone we have managed to collect 10 new specimens.” He stated. The man nodded his head as he read the report.

“Good work, keep me updated.” Saïx nodded.

“If you wish for any information on it’s condition I suggest you talk to its caretaker.” Saïx added before getting back to work, talking to a younger man with grey hair covering one eye.  
The man nodded, walking over to the caretaker, his bright red hair giving him away.

“Axel, how is it’s conditions.” He asked. The red head look at the man, giving a small sigh before talking.

“She’s fine, her throat isn’t as bad as last time, and the cooler temperatures are keeping her calm.” He said, his sight occasionally glancing back at the creature.

“At this rate she should be ready again soon. I would tell you to try have longer gaps between goes, but hey you’re the boss.” Axel said, a grin of his face. The man nodded, walking up to the creature. It was hard to see clearly, its short black hair covering its eyes. Its tentacles were scrunched up, as if it were using them as a seat. He watched it look up, staring at him with its blue eyes. Eventually he looked away.

“Make sure it is well taken care of Axel.” He said before walking away. Axel sighed resting his back on the glass tank. The creature swam up to the glass, placing a hand on the glass. Axel looked at the creature, a small lopsided grin on his face.

“I promise Xion, one day you’ll be out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Squall: Catfish  
> Cloud: Leopard Seal  
> Seifer: Swordfish  
> Aerith: Jellyfish  
> Namine: Nurse Shark


	4. Chapter 4

Team meetings had never been Axel’s favourite, but Xemnas always made a point to ensure everyone was at them. While they were far and few between, they still happened and when they did, they went for hours. It sucked in Axel’s oh so humble opinion. But he had to go, if only to avoid Saïx’s death glares after the meeting. So, he made his way over, slowly shuffling his feet as if something would postpone the meeting during the short walk down the hall. Nothing did.

Axel made his way to his seat, the eighth seat on a large round table. The chairs had been shuffled, as if to show off a presentation of some kind. Axel sat down looking at the other members. Most were seated already, Marluxia and Larxene whispering to each other, Demyx casually strumming his sitar, Luxord shuffling his cards. Just as Axel made himself comfortable the door swung open, showing Saïx and Xemnas. The two walked in, Saïx sitting in his seat next to Axel. Everyone looked at Xemnas.

“Good tidings friends, today is a momentous occasion.” Xemnas began, Axel leaned back in his seat. Whatever news Xemnas had was important then. Xemnas continued.

“I am pleased to announce a very special member will be… joining us as of today.” Everyone quickly glanced at each other.

“They are the key to expanding our production.” Xemnas stated. Behind him the monitor blinked to life, on the large screen showed a tank the darkness of the room obscuring anything else. Xemnas pulled out a small controller from his pocket, clicking a small button on it. 

The room on the screen flashed as the lights came on, illumination a large tank. Inside the tank was small patches of fake coral, the colours far too saturated. There were some larger tree logs, broken in parts and hollowed out. But that wasn’t what everyone was looking at.

Swimming around the tank was a mermaid, its short black hair covering part of its face. It swum around the large tank its large black tentacles pushing it through the still water, occasionally it would push against the glass or checking the top of the closed tank. It looked scared. Axel was snapped out of his stupor as Vexen spoke.

“We are to work with that… that thing?” He asked, clearly outraged. Saïx sighed.

The creature will be invaluable to capturing other merpeople.” He stated, his cold gaze catching Vexen’s bulging eyes. Everyone turned to Saïx. He knew about this? Axel felt the slightest twinge of betrayal, quickly stomping it down.

“The creature has the ability to lure out others, it will be useful in our endeavours.” Saïx said before turning back to Xemnas. Xemnas smiled softly before talking.

“The creature, No.1 is young, younger than most we have been able to capture at any rate. Due to this its voice will be much stronger, allowing us to lure more to us. It will be the bait to help us catch far more merpeople than before.” Xemnas gave a quick look at everyone gathered. 

“Vexen, Zexion this will supply you with far more samples to examine, alive or dead. This will also give us more scales and merpeople that can be sold.” Axel looked around the room, everyone softly muttering. Vexen looked like a kid at Christmas, Zexion not so much.

“You will soon receive your mission statements, they will list how this change will affect you. Do not fail me. You are all dismissed.” Everyone quickly got up, walking out the room. Just as Axel was about to leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Xemnas.

“I would like to talk to you in my office.” He stated, quickly retracting his hand and walking off. Axel looked at him startled, before sighing. It was gonna be a long day. Slowly he made his way to Xemnas’s office. He wasn’t looking forward to whatever Xemnas’s next task for him was. Being the team assassin was already a depressing job, and while he almost never gets tasks he still did. He hates them, but he’s the only one for the job. Saïx better be thankful he took those jobs, trying to raise them up the ranks. They might be 7 and 8 but with each job the two had gotten pretty close to the top. Though Axel had a feeling that Saïx was a lot closer to the top than he was. 

Axel snapped back to attention as he saw Saïx walk out of Xemnas’s room. The two locked eyes for a second before Saïx left, not a word spoken between the two. Axel sighed, opening the door. Xemnas was sitting in his chair, files neatly arranged on his desk in a stack. The words confidential stamped on them in bright red. Xemnas looked at Axel as he closed the door.

“Take a seat Axel, I have a special task for you to undertake.” Xemnas sorted through his pile of folders, quickly grabbing the right one as Axel sat. He slid the file over to Axel.

“Seeing how recently you have had no missions to undertake I have taken the liberty of assigning you the task of taking care of the creature No.1.” Axel sat there stunned for a few moments before opening the folder. Inside it was all the information about the creature, its height, weight, even a rough age guesstimate. It was only 14. There was other information, where it was obtained, how it was caught. What it needed to eat, the conditions of the tank room. Axel looked at Xemnas.

“I am entrusting you with this important task Axel, do not fail me.” And with that Axel stood up, the folder held in a death grip. He nodded and left. Quickly making his way through the halls, his pace speeding up as he got to the front entrance. Clocking out he grabbed the keys in his pocket and walked over to his car. As he sat in his car he paused. What was he, the babysitter now? He looked up at the building. The large white warehouse structure that stood taller over all the other warehouses. Turning the keys, he started up the ignition. What the hell had his life become.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a weird day, one-minute Xion was swimming by herself the gentle current pushing her along the ocean floor, she wasn’t that far from the human shores, far enough that no human would lurk near her depth, but high enough that when she looked up, she could see the beautiful blues of the sun hitting the water. As she was enjoying the light a shadow cast on the water and she looked around. There was something on the water, large and heavy by the sounds of groans and moaning coming from the object itself. She swum closer, curiosity taking over, the voices of her pod echoing in her head.

She knew what she was doing was dangerous but at that moment she didn’t care, she simply wanted to know what had blocked out the beautiful skies. Keeping her distance, she breached the surface getting a better view on the object. It was large, a sleek silver colour that the sun’s light bounced off. The front was angular, the two sides coming together to form a point. In the middle-back there was a room of sorts, people standing around. Xion realised the object was a ship, and a big one at that. She saw people walk out from the cabin, making their way to the sides. She swam closer hoping to hear what they were saying.

“Are you sure this was the location, cause I don’t see anything.” One man said, his mohawk blowing in the sea breeze. The man he was talking to, a larger man with short orange curly hair merely grunted, shrugging his shoulders. The mohawk man sighed.

“Why did I get stuck with this job?” He asked no one in particular. He made a show of looking around, his eyes eventually settling on the ocean, right at Xion. His eyes widened. Quickly she ducked underwater, her tentacles pushing her down further and further. She could hear the muffled sounds of yelling but all she was focused on was getting away. 

Suddenly she felt something grab her tentacle. She started resisting, pulling with all her strength but only getting more tangled. Eventually she was trapped, grabbing the sharp netting she pulled at it, trying to take it off as she was pulled up. Seeing the surface coming closer she started wailing. There was no noise to be heard as her call for help rang throughout the ocean. She called and called with all her strength hoping someone could help her. As she was pulled up above the waves her voice kept on wailing. While underwater it made no true sound above water it did, a horrible screeching at echoed into the heads of the sailors. 

The poachers all covered their ears, trying to bring Xion on board if only to shut her up, she kept struggling, desperately poring her feelings into a useless sound as she cried, tears steaking down her face for the first time. Eventually they pulled her onboard, someone shoving their hand over her mouth shutting her up, she fought back, tears still flowing as she bit the hand, a man cried out, the taste of iron filling her mouth, she had drawn blood. Someone shoved a rag into her mouth, she felt them tie it behind her head, she struggled but a man grabbed her, his strength proving too great a match her Xion. They tied her up, the net being neatly wrapped around her tentacles. One of the humans lifted her onto their shoulder, making a move to take her away from her home when she was it. In the water she saw movement as others began to gather, her call had been answered. She felt elated, hope bursting within her being, they could save her, they had to.

It all went wrong. This wasn’t the poachers first time, and they were prepared. She watched as the man put her down, rushing over to help the other humans capture the merpeople. She watched in horror as the struggled, their weapons falling uselessly as they lost. She had caused this. The man came back, his orange hair damp from all the water that had been splashed around. He picked her up taking her to a room with cages, she was placed in one, the door locked as the man walked away. She cried herself to sleep.

When she awoke, she found herself in an artificial ocean. It was small, with the only thing that felt real being the water itself, at least it was salt water. She swam around in the darkness, making note of the strange barrier that kept her and the water in. Then the lights came on, she blinked her eyes adjusting to the sudden change of lighting. Outside of her cage all she saw was walls, the pristine white making her shrink in on herself. Just where was she? She slowly drifted to the bottom of the prison she found herself in, she needed to keep calm, that’s what her pod had taught her. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

People came and left the room, some stopped to look at her but most went about their business, she wasn’t sure if that made her happy or not. After some time passed, everyone left them came back again, a person she hadn’t seen before came in. He had bright red hair and green eyes. The strangest part was the small purple tear drop tattoos he had. The man walked up to her prison, giving her a once over before sighing. He put his head in his hand.

“What am I doing with my life.” He asked, his voice a soft whisper. She glared at him. He looked surprised before plastering on a fake grin.

“Well, well and here I thought your kind didn’t understand us.” He said, crossing his arms. She looked around the room, they were alone. She shuddered.

“What do you want?” she mumbled, her inner turmoil making her feel sick. The man perked up.

“So you do talk, from what I read all you’ve done so far is scream the ears off our men.” He said, fake enthusiasm dripping off every word. “So apparently, I’m you babysitter, so we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other No.1.” With that he left, the clicking of his shoes the only sound. With the squeaking of the door closing Xion sunk into her tentacles.

Every few days he would return, the man with the burning hair, they didn’t talk much, just a simple check-up and maybe one question if she was lucky. The man never said his name so she never said hers, simply going with the name she had been given. She hated it. She missed the ocean. Some days she thought of the ocean, of the merpeople she had known, her pod, her friends, even her childhood friend Roxas. She wished she could see them. Then she remembered the boat and felt like throwing up.

One day she was brought out of her prison, she struggled but was quickly stabbed on the side with a needle, knocking her out. When she woke up she was on the boat, tied up and unable to move. She saw the red haired man was with them this time. The man walked up to her, removing the gag from her mouth. He smirked.

“Try calling for help.” He said. She didn’t second guess it. She wailed, poring her feelings into the sound, it wouldn’t do anything she knew but it would make her feel better. None of the men reacted to the sound, strange pieces covering their ears. After she poured herself into the sound, she sank down into herself. She saw the men take off their protective gear, making their way towards a metal box. They looked at each other, talking in quiet voices. One took the box, touching different buttons and knobs on it. She was too tired to care. She felt herself being picked up, taken to a different room and she simply leaned against the person carrying her. She looked up, it was the red head. He has a strange look on his face, an almost sad look. He placed her gently into one of the cages. She closed her eyes, feeling herself slowly lose more and more energy. She was so tired.

When she awoke again it was in the prison. The red hair man was sitting in front of the prison, his back to the barrier that kept her from her freedom. No one else was around. She gently swum over to the man, lightly tapping the barrier, the man jumped with a start, eyes madly scanning the room. She let out a short laugh. He looked at her.

“Man, you scared me there.” He exclaimed a small smile appearing on his face. He looked her over.

“You ok?” He asked. She stopped, was he… worried for her? It didn’t make sense he barely talked to her caring seemed out of the question. She nodded slowly looking at him. He let out a short breath of relief.

“That’s good, don’t know what I would do it you accidentally hurt yourself.” He looked at her.

“I suppose proper introductions are in order, I’m Axel.” She looked at him, Axel in surprise. He was giving her his name. She took it.

“I’m Xion.” She said, her voice still hoarse from her cries. He looked upset from a moment before smiling again.

“Well Xion, it’s nice to meet you, properly at least.” She looked at him in confusion.

“Why now?” She asked. He looked kinda sheepish at the question.

“Well, after you screamed yourself into a coma I just, realised I never told you my name, or ever tried to talk to you, like a person not a tool.” He looked almost guilty. She smiled a little at that.

Them talking became a regular occurrence, he would come in and check up on her, and they would talk. He answered most of her questions, where they were, why she was captured, how the barrier kept her sealed. He had looked at her funny for that question, asking if she meant the glass. She learnt that the prison she was in was called a tank and she knew the poachers’ group was called Organisation 13. Sometimes others would come to the tank, poking the glass and trying to make her talk to them. She never did. Soon the only one who talked to her was Axel, or people using him as a median. 

Time when on, she grew a year older and when she asked Axel would tell her how long she had been there. She rarely asked. One day Axel snuck into the room. It was dark, which she took as night time but she was surprised by Axel’s appearance. He looked scared. Quickly making his way over to her he put a hand on the glass, she matched the action with her own.

“Come on Xion, we’re getting you out of here.” She looked at him in surprise, the sudden promise from weeks ago ringing in her head. He had been serious. She nodded her head furiously, quickly swimming up towards the top of the tank. The top of the tank moved, a small hole appearing as she jetted herself up and through the gap. On the other side was Axel. He was grinning. Quickly he picked her up, making his way down the small staircase before running through the twisting hallways. She closed her eyes holding on tightly to Axel. Eventually she felt the wind of the ocean and opened her eyes to the sight of water, open water. She felt herself tearing up. Axel gave her a small hug, smiling as he placed her near the water.

“Good luck.” He said, pushing her into the ocean. Being in the ocean felt like taking a breath of fresh air. She filled her lungs as she swam around in circles. Quickly she swum up, wanting to thank Axel. She reached the top, her head coming up above the ocean. She looked at Axel.  
“Thank you!” she exclaimed the smile on her face only getting larger. He laughed, opening his mouth to speak when a loud sound went off. Axel swore, quickly getting to his feet. They had been found.

“Quick Xion, get out of here!” He shouted, keeping his eyes on the bay doors.

“What about you!” She cried, this couldn’t be how it ended, not like this. She heard him laugh.

“It’s ok Xion, I promise this isn’t the last you’ve seen of me.” And with that he ran towards the door. Quickly she dived underwater, pushing her body to get her as far away from the warehouse as possible. She swam and swam Axel’s words ringing in her head. She stopped. He was going to die. She swum harder. She needed to find help, someone, anyone who could help her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xion: Mimic Octopus


	5. Chapter 5

For all his bravado Roxas was scared. All his life he had been told to fear and hate the humans, those who abandoned their people, ruin their homes yet here Roxas was going to the surface. His worries slowly bubbling in his head. What if they knew, if they came for them? What if he couldn’t protect Sora, what if Sora preferred the humans. What if he lost Sora? He watched Sora, casually swimming next to Ven, chatting about anything the two could think of. Naminé occasionally adding to the conversation. He looked away. 

He’d left his friends behind. Ariel would have loved learning about the humans, how they lived their lives. Pence would have had it a huge mystery, dragging Hayner and Olette with his as he did it. The thought made Roxas smile. Guess he would have to bring something good back for them all as an apology. With that thought he swam up to the others.

“So where are we heading anyway?” He asked, swimming next to the others. Ven looked at him before looking at Naminé, she chuckled softly.

“There’s a small cave on the Destiny shore that no one goes too, we can get to the surface from there.” Naminé said before turning her attention to Ven.

“Does your spell give them clothes or do we need to buy some?” She asked. Ven thought for a bit.

“I don’t think it does, but once you have clothes they stay with the form.” He answered. Naminé nodded, deep in thought.

“Can you teach me the spell, I want to be able to use it if we end up getting split up.” Ven nodded.

“I’ll teach you when we get there.” The two swum further up talking about the magic of shifting, Roxas nudged Sora.

“This how you thought seeing your friends again would go.” He teased. Sora nudged him back.

“Not really, if anything I would have thought Ariel would have gone looking for humans and we would get her back.” Sora said with a small chuckle. The two laughed, remembering Ariel’s room full of human bits and bobs. Roxas hoped she would be ok.   
The twins continued chatting, conversations floating from one topic to another. They had made their way to the front of the group, Ven and Naminé behind them now, their topic going far to in depth for Roxas to follow. As they swam they could see the fish slowing thinning out, the schools that swum by becoming fewer and fewer. After swimming for ages, the group decided to rest.

The group made their way towards a small cave, crates and other man-made objects littering the floor. The cave was large, the roof of it spanning far above their heads. Quickly they swam inside. As they all started to settle in, they heard a soft sound. Instantly alert the group looked at each other. Roxas quickly took front, drawing out his daggers before slowly drifting towards the sound. He soon found himself near one of the corners of the cave, he could see another merperson, their black tentacles curled up around them. Putting his daggers away he swam up to the other before tapping them on the shoulder. The mermaid looked at him with a start, eyes staring at him before they quickly turned around, jumping into him, wrapping their arms around him.

“Roxas! Its you, thank Poseidon it’s you.” They exclaimed, Roxas looked at them with a start. He slowly wrapped his hand around the obviously upset mermaid, thinking back to who this could be. He looked at their short black hair, the tentacles before it hit him.

“Xion?” He asked cautiously. Xion nodded her head. Roxas tightened his grip. He hadn’t seen Xion in years, hell hadn’t thought of her for years yet here she was. The two had fallen out of touch years ago, when she went off on her own. Octopi were mainly solitary creatures and that carried on to their mer-counterparts. Eventually realising Xion wasn’t letting go he turned them both around, looking at his friends. They all looked confused, especially Sora which made his laugh internally. Of course, Sora didn’t know Xion, they had first met when Sora had been visiting his human friends.

“Everyone, this is Xion. She’s an, old friends,” he nudged Xion making her look up, “Xion this is Sora, Ven and Naminé. We’re travelling together.” Xion looked at the group, nodding as Roxas gestured at each person. Slowly letting go of Roxas she bowed to them all.

“It’s very nice to meet you all.” She said, her hand grasping at Roxas’s. Finding Roxas was a dream come true for Xion, he was like a brother too her and someone she trusted. She wondered if he could help her. She looked as Sora swam up to them.

“Roxas, you never told me about your friend.” He accused, fake hurt lacing his tone. Roxas shook his head.

“You never told me about your, so we’re even.” Sora pouted.

“That was completely different and you know it.” Sora protested, a smile making its way to his face.

Xion looked at the other two. The girl, Naminé looked almost shocked, her face red. Did she get burnt? She looked pale enough. Xion quickly shut down her thought trail, she couldn’t get burn she wasn’t a human, constantly wandering the surface in the sun for hours on end. Axel always complained about getting sunburnt. Xion felt sadness settling over her.

The group quickly made space for Xion, putting her in-between Roxas and Naminé. She sat and watched as the group all pulled food from their bags, passing it around. Xion ate hers slowly, watching the group all chat and joke around. Suddenly she felt like an outsider. Her heart had swelled with joy at seeing her own people again, seeing them and knowing that they weren’t going to be hurt from her actions, yet she suddenly felt like she didn’t know how to act around them. Only talking to one person for a whole year does that too you. Stuck in her head she almost missed Roxas calling her name. She looked up.

“What’s up?” She asked, looking at Roxas.

“Well I was wondering, what are you going to do now?” She looked at him surprised. What was she going to do know? She had to find someone who could help her, she was hoping for a witch but she knew that they all had a price to pay. She bit her lip.

“I-I was looking for a witch.” She eventually answered, her voice soft. The group looked at her in confusion.

“Why were you looking for a witch?” Naminé asked, keeping her voice calm and soothing, hoping not to scare Xion. Xion looked at her.

“I wanted to ask them for help in getting my friend back. I-i-if I don’t hurry, he might…” She answered looked away. The group looked at each other in worry.

“Maybe we can help.” Ven replied, a smile on his face. Xion perked up at that.

“Really.” She asked incredibly. Could they, she barely knew them, well most of them but if they could save Axel.

“If you can, please help me. He-he did so much for me and I can’t just let him die for it.” She said, her eyes stinging.

“Don’t worry Xion, we’ll help you.” Sora said, confidence booming in his voice. She looked at them all in surprise. They all wanted to help her, it was a dream come true.

“So, who are we saving?” Roxas asked, looking at Xion. She took a deep breath before responding.

“His name is Axel, he freed me from a horrible group of poachers.” She shuddered. “But he, he got caught and I couldn’t get to him.” She felt as Roxas grab her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“You were captured by poachers?” Naminé asked, disgust in her voice. Xion nodded.

“I was captured over a year ago, and Axel took care of me, but suddenly he decided to get me out and betrayed the group, I’m worried that they might kill him or worse for helping me escape.” The group looked at each other.

“Xion, do you know where their base is?” Ven asked. Xion shook her head.

“All I know is that Axel said he lived in a place called Radiant Garden.” The mermen slumped down, the name meaning little to them. Naminé lit up.

“I know where that is, it’s close to where we were going anyway. If your friend lived in Radiant Garden, he might have worked in the Hollow Bastion district.” Everyone lit up as well, they had a plan, hell a place. Xion frowned.

“I still haven’t found a witch thought, if I don’t find one I can’t get around on the surface.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Naminé said. “I’m actually a witch, and Ven knows a spell to help people swap between forms. We can do this.” She said. Xion beamed.

“Thank you, guys.”

\-----------------------------------

After resting the groups made their way towards the destiny shores, quickly locating the small cave Naminé had talked about. Ven quickly turned both him and Naminé into their human forms, giving the others a quick wave before heading of to get clothes. The twins and Xion talked, catching up and getting to know each other. Soon Ven and Naminé returned with clothes all tucked away in a human made backpack. Ven’s face was flushed red as Naminé had a amused look on her face.

“Did something happen?” Sora asked, looking at Ven who quickly ducked his head. Naminé let out a small giggle.

“It seems that Ven wasn’t fully prepared for a 400-year difference in vocabulary.” She said, looking at Ven. He quickly looked at the group.

“I was fine with all of you, how was I meant to know that English had changed so much. He stated with a pout. The others all laughed.

“Come on, out of the water you all need to change.” He stated. The three merpeople hopped out of the water, their tails hanging over the edge. Ven closed his eyes as a green glow surrounded him and the other three. They all watched as the wind around them blew into a small tornado, changing their features. Soon the light faded and the three former merpeople were now all human. They were all naked, the only exception being Xion, who had a black sports bra on. Quickly Ven passed the group clothes, all of them reaching in and taking bits and pieces. Ven showed the guys how to put on underwear and pants while Naminé shyly helped Xion put on her dress. Soon the whole group were dressed.

Sora was wearing a black singlet with a red short sleeved hoodie. He had on blue denim shorts and flip-flops. Roxas was wearing a black sleeveless hoodie, and white cargo pants. He has black and white sneakers on and was wearing a checkered bracelet with two rings, one black and one white. Xion was wearing a black dress, leading into a plaid skirt. It had short frilled sleeves and sleek black boots. Naminé was back in her white dress. Ven was wearing a short sleeve turtleneck, and some brown pants that reached his ankles. He also had sneakers on.

Namine looked over at Xion who was admiring the dress she had on. She was swaying to the sides, letting the material swing as she moved. Xion smiled as she repeated the action before looking up to see Namine looking at her. They both blushed. 

“Sorry.” Namine said quickly, looking away. Xion blushed even more, looking at her hands. 

“It’s ok.” She replied. Namine looked at her, a small smile working its way onto her face. 

The group quickly packed up their belongings, Roxas and Sora discretely placing their weapons on themselves. After some quick lessons on walking and interacting with humans the group got ready to leave the cave. Suddenly they heard people making their way inside. The two groups stopped, looking at each other.

There was a boy and a girl, looking around the same age as the group. The boy had short silver hair, a grey V-neck shirt and blue pants. The girl had short red hair, she had a short white singlet on, with a crop-top jacket, her shorts were pink with plaid rimming the edges. The girl waved.

“Um hi?” She said, looking at the rag tag team. Sora waved, excitement spilling over. Xion put herself behind Roxas, and Naminé did a similar action with Ven. Ven also waved.

“Sorry, we'll just beest on our way anon.” Ven said, sighing as soon as he said it. The two humans looked at them weirdly.

“Uh, ok?” The girl said, looking them all over. Her eyes landed on Naminé.

“Oh I know you, your that mystery girl who appears every few months or so, then suddenly leaves right?” Naminé blushed, embarrassed at being caught. She nodded.

“Well it's nice to actually meet you. Selfie said she met you once when you were buying some stuff but who knows. I’m Kairi by the way, and grumpy over here is Riku.” Kairi said, smiling at the group. Riku glared at Kairi before looking at Sora, his glare intensifying. Sora looked at the ground before looking back at the humans.

“Well it was nice… meeting you two but we’re kinda in a rush.” He said quickly grabbing Ven and Roxas’s hands and dragging them out. The girls quickly followed, Naminé giving a quick wave goodbye. Sora dragged them as far from the cove as possible before letting go, the smile all but gone from his face. Roxas looked at him.

“You ok Sora?” He asked, grabbing Sora’s hand. Sora shook his head.

“They didn’t recognise me.” He said mumbling. Roxas froze for a second before squeezing Sora’s hand.

“Sorry.” Was all he could say. Sora looked at him a lopsided grin on his face.

“It’s ok, I can just become friends with them again.” Roxas just sighed before looking at Naminé.

“Where too Naminé.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kairi and Riku watched as the strange group left the secret spot. Kairi looked around the cave. Where had they even come from, she hadn’t seen anyone come in, but recently Riku and her hadn’t been able to get to the hideout as often. School sucked. Kairi looked at Riku, he looked deep in thought, the frown on his face would probably make people think he was angry but Kairi knew better.

“Munny for your thought.” She said, giving Riku a slight bump. He snapped out of his musing looking at Kairi.

“The one with the brown hair, he… I feel like I know him but I can’t figure out where.” Riku said, looking at Kairi, confusion evident on his face. Kairi thought about it a moment. She honestly couldn’t tell. Admittingly she had been a bit more focused on the cryptid herself and the boy who spoke like he came out of a Shakespearean play. She thought about the boy Riku was talking about, he had seemed pretty adamant about them leaving, maybe he knew them. She wasn’t sure. She looked at Riku.

“We’ll there’s only one way to find out. Lets ask.”


	6. Chapter 6

Naminé had led the group to a library, opening its doors Sora, Roxas and Xion had been amazed by all the shelfs filled with ‘books’ as Ven had called them. Naminé had quickly gone over to a computer, turning it on with practised ease as the others crowded around her. She logged in and got to work. Quickly she pulled up multiple tabs, each with different questions inserted onto the search bar. Ven stood back, watching Naminé gain multiple results quickly. He sighed, walking away from the group. Sora looked at his in confusion.

“I’m going to see if they have any books on the Great War, I’ll be back soon.” Ven said, quickly walking away.

He made his way through the admittedly small library, looking at the nametags for the different book genres. While the language wasn’t too different it still surprised – and annoyed – Ven how much English had changed. Although 400 years is a long time for growth. Finally Ven found the section neatly labelled ‘History’. Looking at the book titles he eventually collected a few on famous battles of the past. He frowned as he looked around. Why were there none specifically on the Great War, it had been quite a big deal, causing a rift between merpeople and humans. As he made his way back to the group he spotted a book with merpeople on it. He looked at the section. ‘Fiction’. He frowned.

He quickly skimmed through the Fiction section, picking up more and more books. It was full of the information he needed, so why had it been placed in the works of fiction section. As he went to grab another larger book, his hand collided with another’s. He looked at the person. She was older than him, with short blue hair. She was wearing a black and blue, high-collared halter top, with pure black pants. She looked at him in surprise.

“Sorry.” They both said, they looked at each other before laughing slightly. The woman looked at the books Ven was holding.

“Are you interested in the merfolk as well?” She asked. Ven nodded.

“Yeah, I didn’t bethink that I would have to findeth information about the great war from fiction books though.” He said, pouting. The woman looked at his is surprise. Ven blushed, looking away from the woman. 400 years of change was a lot to take in, and he’d only had a few hours to try fix his speech.

“You’re also looking into the Great War?” She asked. Ven looked at her.

“Uh yeah, why?” The woman’s eyes lit up.

“I’m Aqua, me and my friend have been trying to find information on the Great War for quite a few years now. “Aqua stated. Ven looked at her in confusion.

“Trying? Don’t humans write everything down in books?” He asked. Aqua shook her head.

“For some reason all information about this war is either missing or lost to the ages.” She looked down for a second. “Why don’t you come back to the lab with me, and you can talk to my friend and I.” Ven looked at her.

“Uh I would but, I’m kinda helping my friend find someone right now.” He said. Aqua looked disappointed for a moment before looking back at Ven.

“Maybe we can help, after all if your friend is somewhere in Radiant Garden then we might know them, or someone who knows them.” Ven grinned.

“That would be awesome. Thanks, Aqua.” Ven took Aqua’s hand, dragging her over to his friends. They were all circling Naminé, pressing different buttons on the keyboard and poking the screen. Ven coughed into his hand, catching their attention.

“Everyone this is Aqua, she might be able to help us find Axel.”

 

The walk to Aqua’s lab had been short, Xion had admittedly been nervous about going to a place called a lab but Aqua had been quick to ease her worries, talking about what they do at Departure Labs. She explained how they study ancient artefacts that they or others recover from the ocean, and mainly do most of their research still in the ocean itself, making sure not to disrupt the balance. The building was simple, a two-story building that was mainly rectangular is shape. There were windows lining the walls, making the whole building seem more open. Inside there were tons of different picture of wildlife on the walls. There was a tank in the middle of the entrance, with some small tropical fish swimming around.

“Welcome to Departure Labs, we don’t get many visitors so sorry if it’s dirty.” With skilled practice Aqua lead the group through the hallways. Quickly the group made it to a simple white door. Aqua knocked quietly before pushing open the door. On the other side of the door sat a man. He had brown hair that was styled into rather messy cut, with vertical spikes and bangs that frame his face. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt, with brown cargo pants. He stood up, looking at the group before looking at Aqua.

“Aqua, you going to introduce me to your friends?” He asked, letting out a soft chuckle. Aqua smiled.

“Everyone this is Terra, he also owns the lab. Terra this is Sora, Roxas, Xion, Naminé and Ven.” The group waved at Terra. He smiled.

“Well, welcome to Departure labs, how can we help.” The group looked at each other before Xion stepped out.

“Do you know someone called Axel, he’s my friend and I need to help him.” She said softly. Naminé put a supportive hand on her shoulder. Aqua and Terra looked at each other in surprise before looking at the group.

“Axel, as in the one who works for Organisation 13?” Aqua asked.

“Why are you friends with a poacher?” Terra scoffed. Xion’s eyes lit up.

“Where’s the Organisation? I need to save him, if I don’t, he might…” Xion exclaimed. Aqua and Terra looked at Xion in alarm.

“How about we sit down and have a drink before we talk about this” Aqua asked cautiously. The group nodded. 

Everyone made their way to a room next door, taking a seat on one of the many couches. Aqua walked to one side, turning on kettle. Xion looked at the floor, Naminé gently rubbing comforting circles on her back. Roxas sat next to the two, with Sora close to his side. Ven took one of the chairs, moving it closer towards the group. Across from the group Terra sat down, Aqua quickly joining them with drinks. The group was silent for a moment before Aqua spoke.

“Xion, you said that Axel was in danger? What did you mean?” Xion took in a deep breath before looking at Aqua and Terra.

“He, he got in trouble because of me and got captured. If I don’t do anything, they might kill him.” Xion said.

“What did he do?” Terra asked, looking at Xion. She looked at the ground.

“The group, they forced me to work for them for over a year, then Axel helped me escape but-but he got caught.” The two adults looked at each other before nodding.

“What can we do to help.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Riku was surprised by how slippery the group was. Considering there were five of them they were basically impossible to find. It was really getting on Riku’s nerves. Taking in a few deep breaths Riku calmed down. Looking at Kairi who was currently talking to Selfie of all people. After they had left the secret hideout looking for the weird group, they had all but vanished. Considering it was a strip of sand it was actually impressive. So, Kairi had dragged him all the way to town, now more determined than ever to find the group.

They had talked to a few people already, Wakka and Tidus had been useless, spending the entire conversation talking about their upcoming Blitzball match, when Riku and Kairi had finally gotten the conversation on track the two quickly stated that they hadn’t seen the group. Riku was really annoyed about it. Then they had run into Zack, who was going on a run. He hadn’t stayed long enough that he talked their ears off - thank god - but he didn’t know who they were talking about either. Eric had been more helpful, simply saying he saw a group of teens going towards the library. So here they were, inside the library as Kairi talked to Selfie. Riku snapped out of his thoughts as Kairi walked over, a grin on her face.

“Finally get something?” He asked, Kairi smiled.

“You bet, it’s a good thing Selfie can’t keep her nose out of people's business. She said that they all walked out with Aqua.” Riku nodded. They went with Aqua, that was weird. After Eraqus’s death Aqua and Terra had hold themselves up inside the lab, so why were they out and about suddenly, and talking to randos. Riku put a hand on Kairi’s shoulder.

“Well then, lets go to the lab.”

Getting to the lab was easy, it was close and the two knew all the shortcuts to get there. They had been going ever since they were kids excited to hear about the people who lived under the sea. Riku vaguely wondered if that was the reason that they both had a merman as an imaginary friend. Riku shook his head, that wasn’t the point. Making their way to the front they looked around. Both Aqua and Terra’s cars were here so they must both still be inside. Making their way through the two looked around. The place looked almost abandoned without Aqua and Terra running around. Riku had always been more interested in Terra’s side of the job, looking into artefacts. Kairi had loved Aqua’s work, taking care of the marine life. Finally the two passed by the main lounge, they stopped hearing voices come from inside.

“Alright, tonight we go to Hollow Bastion to free him from Organisation 13.” Aqua’s voice faintly said through the door. Riku looked at Kairi. They were doing what? Whatever they were doing sounded dangerous, and illegal. Riku wanted to know more. Leaning closer to the door Riku felt Kairi pull his arm, stopping him.

“What gives?” He whispered. Kairi looked a little scared.

“Riku I don’t think we were meant to hear that, we should go before they find us.” And with that Kairi was pulling Riku away from the door. Riku let himself be led, thinking about what he had heard. Why were they going to the Organisation’s Warehouse, did something happen? He remembered Terra muttering about how Xemnas had something to do with Eraqus’s death. Did it have to do with that. But who was ‘he’. Riku was snapped out of his musing as Kairi stopped. He looked around seeing that they were outside the building. Kairi looked nervous.

“Now what do we do.” She asked. Riku looked back at the building.

“We follow them, and find out what’s going on.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out of everything Axel had done, he never thought he would actually betray the Organisation. Sitting in the cell he had been oh so graciously placed in was driving him up the wall. It had been a few days already, and he only knew that cause Demyx didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. Today’s prison guard was Xaldin, his stoic as always face clearly letting Axel know he wasn’t going to be getting a conversation out of the guy. He sighed, leading further back against the wall. He was bored. The first day he had been terrified, after all he had lost them their greatest asset, but apparently not all was lost (yay…) as they still had the recording of Xion’s screams. He doesn’t care what other call it those noises were pure screams of desperation.

Saïx had been the one to deliver the amazing news that they weren’t going to kill him outright, instead they were going to leave him in a cell till they did get rid of him. He had laughed them, joking about how Xemnas clearly hadn’t planned for his clean up guy to go rogue, after all who would kill the guy whose entire job was to kill traitors. Axel looked up, hearing the ever-creaky sounds of the door to the room opening. He vaguely wondered who would be stuck with the boring job of guarding him. He watched as Saïx walked in, nodding to Xaldin before taking his place. Axel sighed, and here he had been hoping to kill some time talking to his prison guard.

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” Axel looked at Saïx. Well, it seemed he was getting his wish after all.

“Oh, how so.” He asked. He saw Saïx give a short chuckle.

“To think that after all this time working up the ranks you would throw it all away for some… creature.” Saïx spat. Axel glared.

“Well at least I seem to still care about them, unlike someone else.”

“Enough to betray the Organisation.”

“OH yeah, cause I’m sure she would love what we’re doing right now.” Axel said, venom clinging to every word. Saïx was silent a moment.

“You and I both know this is the closest we’ve gotten to finding her, yet you threw it all away from some random mermaid! What about this one was so special Axel, what about this one was different from every other mermaid we’ve dealt with.” Axel paused, thinking. What was it about Xion that had been different? He smiled.

“Simple, she made me remember my humanity, something that everyone in this Organisation seems to have lost.” Saïx turned around to look at Axel.

“And if I had the choice between the Organisation and what’s left of my humanity. Well I don’t think I would be able to face either Xion or her without it.”


	7. Chapter 7

The plan had been set, it hadn’t taken long, Aqua took the reins telling the group about all the information they had on the organisation. The merpeople wondered if the two humans had been planning this for a while. Eventually everything was sorted out, Terra and Aqua both taking their phones, confused to find that no one in the group had a phone. Aqua gave Naminé a small flip phone, a back up phone the company had, and with that they were off heading into the night.

Getting there was easy, the building standing out to all the other warehouses. Even at night the stark white of the building made it stick out. Its impressive height indicating it was the one they were after. The group quickly made their way to the door. It opened easily. The walls were a grey colour, with dark blue highlights. The halls were long, twisting and turning in seemingly random places. The group went deeper in, till they made their way to a crossroad. Aqua spoke up, her voice a soft whisper.

“Ok, this is where we split up, remember to keep in touch with the phones, text only.” Everyone nodded. Aqua, Sora and Ven took the middle route, heading towards the security room. Terra took the left route, passing through the labs to see if he could find evidence. Xion, Naminé and Roxas took the right route, trying to find Axel. Giving each other a quick good luck, the groups split off.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terra walked through the winding hallways as he made his way to hopefully Xemnas’s office. He was tense, keeping out an ear for any possible members still around. As he made a short turn, he saw two figures. The figures were small, and upon seeing him they darted into a room to the right. Quickly he made his way to the room. The room was large, full of tables and desks with all kinds of tools. There were filing cabinets labelled will all kinds of specimen names. More Aqua’s area. The other side was horrible. There were small cylindrical tanks, each big enough to hold a single human, or by the look of them, a merperson. Terra felt sick. 

Standing in front of the tanks, horror on their faces were Riku and Kairi. Terra balked, what were they even doing here, he knew they didn’t work here, any possible shock Terra had from seeing the captured merpeople quickly left him. Quickly he made his way behind the two, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. The two jumped, spinning around to see him.

“Come on.” He said, leading them over to the desks, making sure they were facing away from the tanks. Kairi sat down, with Riku hovering over her.

“What are you two doing here?” Terra asked softly, trying to be as quiet as he could. The two looked at each other before looking at Terra.

“We overheard you saying you were coming to this place and we wanted to know why.” Riku answered honestly, his voice only slightly wavering. Terra sighed. “You two sit here for a bit, and don’t leave.” The two nodded.

Terra swept the room, looking in all the cabinets, some had sickening details about the experiments done, with photographic evidence. Terra quickly closed those folders. Some were helpful, showing information about illegal experiments done or some information about the kidnapping of the merpeople. Terra took photos of the folders. He quickly took photos of the tanks, making sure to be done fast. Giving the room another quick look Terra felt angry. These were lives that the Organisation was messing with. This isn’t what his master would have wanted for them. He remembered how excited Eraqus would become when he told Aqua and Terra about the merpeople. Terra had found their supposed culture interesting, how they had no written language, and how their homes couldn’t fall to ruin due to the ocean floor preserving the buildings.

Making his way back to Riku and Kairi he could see that the two had composed themselves slightly. The two perked up at seeing him.

“So, you two want to tell me why you were listening in on a private conversation?” Kairi blushed.

“To be fair we weren’t trying to listen in, we were just trying to find the weird group of teens, and we heard that they were seen with Aqua.” Kairi stated, looking at Terra. He sighed. “So why come here?” He looked at Riku.

“Honestly curiosity, we thought this would be an in and out situation, we didn’t expect those… things.” The two shuddered.

“How could the Organisation do that to people.” Kairi said, horrified. Terra looked at the two, did they think the merpeople in the tanks were human, that was good at least, the two teens didn’t need the discovery of another race weighing them down further.

“Alright, let's get going, we have one room to stop in them I’m getting you two out.” He looked at the two. “Ok?” He asked. The two nodded. “Then let's go.”

The way to the main office wasn’t a long one, the short walk weighing down on the trio as the silence clung to them. Reaching the door Terra pulled the door handle, it opened with a small click. The office itself was on the smaller side, with bookshelves lining the walls. At the back of the room was a desk, with a chair behind it and two in front. Making his way behind the desk Terra looked at the drawers. First, he looked in the unlocked ones, checking the contents and taking photos when needed. The information was mainly things about schedules, with the occasional name of a potential business partner. Looking at the top drawer, he pulled out a small lockpick kit. Grabbing the tension wrench, he applied slight pressure to the lock. Then inserting the pick he moved it around till all the driver pins locked into place.

The drawer slid open, Terra quickly put his tools away looking at the drawer’s contents. Inside the drawer were all types of folders, some with the words confidential stamped on them. Inside the folders was information on all types of things. Some had information on potential clients, or threats. Others had information about how they were capturing the merfolk, and the illegal experiments or selling of them. Terra numbly took photos of the information. Putting everything back, he relocked the drawer. Looking to the two teens he could see the surprise on their faces. Riku looked at the drawer.

“You can pick locks?” He asked. Terra chuckle slightly.

“I’ve been able to since I was thirteen.” Terra said thinking back to the reason. He had figured that was the kind of skill that would impress cute girls. It hadn’t really, the only cute girl who had seen him do it had seen him fall into many pits, almost cry over how tiny some sharks are and has seen his old motorcycle. Aqua knew he wasn’t cool. He was startled out of him musing as he felt his phone vibrate. He looked at it and saw a text from Aqua.

‘Don’t leave though entrance, more people in base than we thought. Make way toward the bay out back.’ Terra sighed, looking over at the two teens.

‘Rodger, all information collected. I have Riku and Kairi with me. Don’t ask.’ Hitting send he looked at Riku and Kairi.

“Ok, change of plans. The entrance is no good so you both have to come with me to the other exit.” The two looked at each other, Riku putting a hand on Kairi’s shoulder. Terra walked towards the door. What was he going to do with them?

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aqua made her way forward, with Sora and Ven on each side. She knew their job was the most important, making sure that no one sounded any alarms yet the task left a coil of unease settling in her stomach. Making their way further in the group made sure to not been seen. The path they had picked seemed to be a long corridor, spanning what felt like the entire building. They passed few doors, most locked but some were open. They mainly skipped the rooms. Eventually they came to a stop near the back. There were two doors, one on each side of the hallway. Aqua looked at them both.

“It should be the one on the left.” She whispered. The boys gave her a small nod. 

Making her way to the door, she stopped trying to see if she could hear anyone inside. Not hearing anything she grabbed the door handle, slowly opening it. The door opened smoothly, showing the trio the room. It was a medium sized room with screens lining the wall. There were desks under the wall of screens, each desk fitted with different buttons and keyboards. There were also shelves of books and folders lining the back wall. In the middle of the room was a table, on the table was some food, a small vase with a rose and some playing cards. Sitting at the table was a man. Aqua quickly ducked back, Sora copying the motion. Ven stood in the door frame frozen.  
The person had pink shoulder length hair. They had a black floor length coat on, with black boots. The man looked up at Ven.

“Marluxia… is that really you?” Ven asked, his voice a whisper. Did Ven know this man? Marluxia looked at Ven.

“Do I know you?” Ven’s face fell. Marluxia walked closer to Ven, confusion on his face. Once Marluxia was within arms distance of Ven, Sora jumped out, bow staff in hand. Quickly he slammed the blunt part into Marluxia’s face, stunning him. Then Sora jumped onto his back, wrapping his staff around Marluxia’s neck, eventually knocking him out. Ven snapped out of his surprise, quickly going over to help Sora move Marluxia. 

Aqua was stunned surprised by how quickly Sora had acted.Refocusing herself Aqua made her way over to the controls, looking over the screens. Getting to work she started turning off the alarms. Looking at the security footage she started deleting any that had them in it. She made sure to keep the amount of time lost larger than they were actually there, hoping it would throw Xemnas off their trail. She looked at the screen that said who was signed in currently 6 people signed in. Pulling out her phone she messaged both Terra and Naminé.

‘Don’t leave though entrance, more people in base than we thought. Make way toward the bay out back.’ She hit send, as she walked over to Sora and Ven. Sora was comforting Ven who looked pretty upset. She was about to ask when her phone buzzed.

‘Rodger, all information collected. I have Riku and Kairi with me. Don’t ask.’ She read the text, a small frown on her face. Riku and Kairi, what were they doing here. Her phone went off again.

‘We think we found the room Axel’s in, let you know in a bit.’ That was good news at least.  
Aqua sat down, for now all they could do is wait.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finding the room Axel was in was becoming harder than they had originally thought. Naminé had to admit when she had heard that they were going to a warehouse she hadn’t truly known how large they could be. Now inside one it was mind blowing how large it truly was. It wasn’t an open plan or anything yet the rooms and hallways seemed endless as the three walked through. Occasionally Xion would recognise a hallway or room but for the most part they were going in blind. 

The last room they had checked had been a meeting room, with a table and 13 chairs. They were all pointed at a white board with all sorts of things written or stuck on. There were graphs, some showing cost gains and others showing work efficiency. There were also pictures, some with images of a small recording device of some kind. Others showing on the field work. The pictures were horrible. There were even some pictures of Xion, sitting in a large tank her face hard to see. It made Naminé a little sick. She looked at Xion, who now had a large black hood on to try hide her face and Naminé felt angry at the organisation for doing this to her. Grabbing her hand, she squeezed it gently before dragging her out the room, Roxas following behind. Eventually they found themselves at a staircase, steps that lead to below the warehouse. This seemed like their best bet. In her pocket Naminé felt the flip phone she had been given buzz. She opened it up, reading the message.

‘Don’t leave though entrance, more people in base than we thought. Make way toward the bay out back.’ Naminé quickly relayed the message to everyone, before replying.

‘We think we found the room Axel’s in, let you know in a bit.’ Closing the phone, she looked at Roxas and Xion, nodding. They all walked down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a door, a small window near the top of it. Through the window they could see rows of cells, each empty. At the end was a single human, seemingly standing guard. The small group paused.

“What now?” Xion asked. Roxas hesitated a moment.

“I do have my daggers if we need.” He suggested, though he didn’t look all to happy with the option. Naminé shook her head.

“I can use magic to knock him out, but if I do someone will need to move him to another cell. I won’t be able to move while doing the spell.” The two nodded.

“I can move him, Xion can you open one of the cells for me?” Roxas said.

“Of course.”

Quietly the group moved, opening the door Xion quickly made her way to one of the cells. Roxas stood behind Naminé ready to jump at any moment. Naminé concentrated. Using Magic was a familiar feeling for Naminé, having grown up using it. She had always known how to use it, coming to her as easily as breathing. Yet the task never got old. If she had to describe her magic, she would describe it as a painting, the strokes coming together to create a finished piece. The fulfilment of a finished piece flowing through her as she used her magic. Her mother had always told her magic was a precious gift, and she agreed.

She watched as the guard, a smaller man with grey hair covering his eye fell. She saw Roxas grab him quickly, moving him over to the cell Xion had picked. She heard the sound of Roxas taking the keys and unlocking the empty cell, placing him inside before locking the cell. Naminé let go of her control. The soft white that had encased her dissipated, floating into the air. Smiling at the two merpeople she watched as Xion ran up to the cell the man had been guarding.

Inside the cell was a man with flaming red hair, he looked worse for wear but he was definitely alive. She let out a small breath. The man looked up at the group with surprise.

“Axel!” Xion exclaimed, quickly grabbing the keys from Roxas and unlocking the door. Axel looked at Xion.

“Xion? I-is that you?” He asked. Xion furiously nodded her head, pushing the door open before throwing herself into Axel’s arms. Axel quickly wrapped his arms around her, his voice choked up.

“You came back? After everything you still came back.” There was suprise in his voice. Xion nodded into Axel’s chest. The two hugged in silence. Naminé quickly pulled out the phone, messaging everyone letting them know they found Axel. Now all they had to do was leave. Naminé nodded to Roxas who looked at the two on the floor.

“Xion, we need to get going.” He said. Xion let go of Axel, standing up, Axel slowly stood up, rolling his shoulders to relax them slightly. He looked at Xion and laughed slightly.

“Since when can you walk.” Xion laughed.

“You can thank Ven and Naminé for that.” Naminé gave a small wave. Axel grinned back.

“When we get out of here you’ve gotta introduce me to your new friends.” Xion beamed.

“Definitely.”

Quickly they made their way to the bay. After they told Axel where they were going he directed the group, slowly following. They had placed him in the middle, with Roxas at the back while Naminé and Xion were at the front. Eventually they made it to the bay, opening the door they saw Aqua, Sora and Ven all already in the room. Sora waved.

“Hey!” Sora exclaimed, Roxas laughed, making his way over to Sora.

“We’re trying to be stealthy remember.” Roxas said. Sora laughed a little. Aqua walked up to Axel.

“It’s good to see that you’re ok.” She said, Axel grinned.

“What can I say, it’s impossible to get rid of me.” Xion and Aqua laughed at that. The door opened and Terra, Riku and Kairi walked through the door. Axel whistled.

“Man, you really brought an army to get me out huh.” Xion smiled.

Everyone stood by the gap of water near the edge, it seemed that their only escape would be the ocean. Naminé looked around. There were some boats, but she doubted that the keys would just be in them. Suddenly the door slammed open, multiple members of the organisation flooding through. The pink haired man looked quite angry.

“Well well Axel, to think this many people actually cared about you.” The pink haired man said. Axel laughed.

“What can I say, I’m a likable guy.” The blond-haired girl scoffed.

“In your dreams maybe.” Behind the Organisation members a flood of people started pouring in. They were all dressed in military grade equipment, all holding guns. Everyone froze.

“If you even think of escaping these guys will shoot. Xemnas really hates traitors you know.” The blond girl said. Naminé looked at the group before looking at the armed men. Making up her mind she quickly planted herself in front of everyone else. Muttering to herself she felt her magic kick in. She started glowing, the white energy coming off her forming a shield. The men with guns were frozen from a moment before one yelled, they all started shooting. Making her barrier bigger and bigger Naminé managed to create a wall between the two groups.

“Ven, help everyone drop their disguises, you all need to leave.” Ven looked at her in shock.

“What about you!” He asked. Naminé smiled.

“I need to keep up the barrier, I’ll catch up I promise.” Ven hesitated before looking at the group.

“Ok.” Ven quickly gathered everyone up. “Roxas, can you take Xion and Axel?” Roxas nodded.

“Sora can you take Riku and Kairi, I’ll take Aqua and Terra.”

“Are you sure?” Sora asked.

“I’m probably the fastest out of all of use, I’ll get further with two people, Sora you naturally have speed and Riku and Kairi will probably be easier to take. We need to split up. We’ll meet up at the lab in a few days.” With that Ven quickly sat on the edge. Sora, Roxas and Xion all followed him, allowing the green magic to swirl around them, quickly the group found themselves in their merforms with some of the humans gasping behind them. The green magic floated over the humans, coating them in it and not letting go. Sora grabbed Riku and Kairi’s hands, quickly pulling them under, darting off. Roxas and Xion carefully grabbed Axel, jetting off in a different direction. Ven looked back for a moment before grabbing Aqua and Terra and swimming away.

Naminé looked at the armed men as she heard the sounds of splashing. She smiled.

“Stay safe.”


	8. Chapter 8

Towing two grown adults through the water was proving to be harder than Ven had originally thought. He hadn’t had this much trouble in the past, dragging Marluxia and Strelitzia around to visit the ocean floor. He would even sometimes bring Br- never mind. Looking around Ven finally saw a decent cave, large enough to possibly have a air pocket. Putting more force behind his kicks he pulled them all to the cave, skilfully navigating the large cave. Looking up he saw exactly what he had been hoping for, with a burst of speed he pulled Aqua and Terra up onto the ledge. Letting go the two quickly positioned themselves, sitting on the floor as they looked around.

“I’ll be back in a second, I need to check out the cave.” Ven said, ducking his head back under. The cave itself was mostly empty, with schools of fish occasionally swimming in and out. It was a decently large cave, with natural pillars filling the room. Some were broken, crumbling simply due to their thickness not being enough to support themselves. Ven swam back to the two humans.

Breaching over the water he could see that Aqua and Terra had made themselves more comfortable. Sitting side by side the two were quietly chatting, looking around every so often. Pulling himself up Ven sat on the edge of the water. The two looked at him, eyes shining. He waved.

“So, you really are a merman.” Aqua said looking at his tail and horn, he touched it lightly.

“Yeah, it seems like humans don’t really know much about merpeople huh.” He said. The two humans looked at each other.

“Ven, as far as humans are concerned, merpeople are a myth, just a fairy tale told to kids. Most folk wouldn’t even believe you’re a merman if they saw you right now.” Aqua said. Ven looked at her in confusion.

“They probably would think you’re one of those ‘professional mermen’ or a cosplayer.” Terra explained.

“A what?”

“They, like get hired for kid’s birthday parties or aquariums and theme parks. They just put on a fake tail and can hold their breath.” Terra said. Ven looked at the water. Why bother going to those lengths, why forget about merpeople in general. Humans were known for writing things down yet they had no true information on merpeople, it was baffling. Aqua’s voice broke Ven out of his thoughts.

“Ven, are you ok, did you get hurt?” She asked. Ven looked at her before looking at himself. He looked fine as far as he could tell. Aqua pointed at his scars. He winced, oh.

“These are old scars, they healed a while ago.” He told them, the two looked at each other before looking at him.

“What were you doing to even cause those kinds of injuries.” Terra asked, more to himself than anyone. Ven sighed.

“I got most of these in the war.” Ven answered, touching the large slash wound of his side. Most of his wounds were from the war, fighting mer and human alike but others… well, he preferred not to think about him. Both Aqua and Terra looked confused before Aqua’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“Were you in the Great War?” She exclaimed. Ven nodded. Terra looked even more confused.

“Ven, that war was over 400 years ago, you couldn’t have been in it.” The two looked at Ven. He thought about it for a moment, should he really go into detail about this, he didn’t want to drag them into his problems, but. He shook his head, if anyone could help him it might be the two humans who actually know about the war.

“I was in the Great War 400 years ago, but when I got… badly hurt I was put into a magical coma. I only woke up a few weeks ago.” The two looked at his in interest. He laughed slightly. “I’m guessing you two have some questions.”

“You were put in a magic coma? Does that mean that magic is real?” Aqua asked, before pausing for a second.

“Well, beside the transformations that you all did.” Ven thought about it for a sec.

“Well, it’s different for humans and merfolk, but for merfolk we all have a natural ability to use magic. Well, specific types that we have an affinity to but still.”

“An affinity?”

“Basically, each of us is born with the power to control a different element, such as wind, water, fire, earth, light, dark. There are also specific types of magic like protection magic and healing magic. Humans with magical capabilities are more likely to have those. Or at least 400 years ago they did.” He sighed.

“Some merpeople have multiple affinities, but it’s very rare. We can’t use any magic outside our own affinity and neutral magic. Like changing forms, or the spell I used on all of you, that green magic clinging to you, it lets you breath underwater.” Both Aqua and Terra looked at the soft green outline covering them.

“So, what’s your affinity?” Terra asked.

“I have wind affinity, fitting considering my name’s Ventus.” He chuckled. Aqua smiled.

“You mentioned a difference with merfolk magic and humans?” Ven looked at her.

“Humans have a natural affinity for all magic, but most can’t use them. Depending on what type they are most fluent with, the opposite is far more difficult to use. So, someone who finds water magic easy will find fire magic hard. Same applies with light and dark, and wind and earth. But if humans have something, they can channel magic from then it becomes easier to use.”

Ven though back to the bracelet Naminé had. How Aerith had known was beyond him, considering how the twins had said that humans and merpeople didn’t interact. Though the two had been quite surprised by Aerith using magic, so maybe there was more to it.

“Humans also have no natural immunity to magic, making them susceptible to all types. While in comparison, merpeople have natural resistances to their own type of affinity.”

Aqua looked at Ven.

“So if a person was hit by a fire spell, it would hurt them, but if a merperson with a fire affinity was hit they would be fine?” She asked. Ven nodded.

“Yeah, otherwise we would just end up hurting ourselves with our own magic. Humans have some ways of preventing that, but I’m not sure how they do it currently but 400 years ago they would use magic circles or tombs.”

Aqua and Terra sat for a moment, taking it all in. After a few minutes of silence Terra spoke up.

“Ven, you fought in the Great War, right? How much do you actually know about the Great War?” Ven sighed, looking away for a moment before looking at Terra.

“Well, I do know why it was started, but I’m not completely sure how it ended. I was already asleep by then.” Terra nodded.

“Well what do you two actually know about the Great War?” Ven asked.

“We know that back then there were 5 major Unions, those who governed over important world issue. Anguis, Leopardos, Unicornis, Ursus and Vulpeus.” Terra explained.

“We also know that there was a traitor, and that traitor brought ruin over all.” Aqua added. Ven frowned.

“Well, you’re right about the Unions, they would help keep relations with merpeople and humans stable, it was their role given to them by their master. But, there wasn’t a traitor, not officially anyway.” Ven touched his horn. There wasn’t a traitor within the Union leaders at least.

“Somewhere along the way, rumours began to spread that humans were trying to take total control over the Unions, making their species the superior species. Turns out humans were hearing the same rumours, but the other way around. This caused the different Unions to go crazy trying to not be the weakest and get destroyed by the traitor. But this made everyone start fighting. Soon there were no sides, simply a free for all, with everyone trying to be better than one another.”

Ven could still remember how shocked he and his friends had been, finding out the lies that were going around. When they found out they all promised to not fight in the war, to simply run and be safe together. But after Strelitzia…

“Ven?” Aqua asked quietly, placing her hand on his shoulder. Ven looked at her, quickly forcing a small smile.

“Sorry.” He took in a deep breath before continuing.

“The Great War broke out because of an incident.”

“Incident?”

“The Union leaders went missing. The suddenly vanished, leaving everyone scrambling to try and fix the hole they all left. Without the leaders no one was motivation them to fight, but no one was stopping them either. So, fighting broke out, it was a free for all.”

It had been horrible, he remembered running through the crowds, his side bleeding, cuts and scrapes littering his body. He remembered running, calling for his friends, the only ones he had left, desperate to find them and just leave. He never found them, soon passing out from his own wounds. Sighing he looked at the two humans, they looked deep in thought, muttering to themselves and each other. It made him smile slightly.

“I’ll be back, I should probably get us some food.” And with that he dove back under.

The situation outside had looked better than he had originally thought, it seemed like the Organisation wasn’t actively looking for them on the ocean, which had allowed Ven to grab some food on shore. He was thankful that he still had some human currency from when he and Naminé when clothes shopping. He didn’t like the idea of stealing the food Taking a short walk through the town and beach side he hadn’t seen anyone he recognised.

Getting back, he quickly handed off the food to the adults, who absentmindedly took it, eating as they discussed their theories and piecing the information they had together. Ven joined in occasionally, giving them lost insight. Soon Ven yawned.

“Ven, if you’re tired you should get some rest.” Aqua said, looking over at him concern on her face. Ven chuckled.

“Ok.” Stretching Ven lied down, closing his eyes. It had been a long day and he knew he would need energy to take the humans back to land soon. Soon he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

_Everything hurt, he could feel the dried blood covering part of his face. His freshly broken horn still throbbed. He had to find them, Strelitzia was gone, Marluxia too. Brain… he closed his eyes, trying to stop more tears from falling. He had to find Skuld and Ephemera. He knew where they would be, they had a friend who would be fighting in the war. He had to go the battlefield._

_Slowly making his way over he could feel the oppressive force of lost magic settling over the battlefield. It was a truly horrible sight. People fighting one another, all with legs, but he knew these people, some his neighbours, some his friends. This was a fight between humans and Merpeople, and there would be no survivors._

_With new found energy he ducked and weaved his way through the crowds of people, closing his every time he heard the sound of metal against metal. Steel and against flesh. It pained him. The sounds of his friends, people he knew screaming as they fought with all their breath rung in his ears, not letting him go._

_He felt a sword slash against his side, throwing him on the ground. He coughed, quickly placing his hand to his side. It came back red. He sat there for a moment, his tears continuing to flow. Where were they, his friends. Wiping away his tears he slowly stood up, he couldn’t die yet, not without seeing his friends first. He needed them. So, he kept moving._


	9. Chapter 9

Roxas hated humans he decided, dragging along the red-haired human. They hadn’t done anything good for him, and if this human wasn’t Xion’s friend he had half the mind to just let go and go home. But whenever he wanted to, he remembered how happy Xion had been to see him, and it made Roxas continue onwards. Xion was swimming next to the human, checking over him as best she could with the speeds that they were swimming at.

When they had originally started swimming Roxas had no idea where to go, he just went the opposite direction of the horrible building. Xion apparently knew the area they had ended up in well enough to direct them to a cave near the surface that you only enter from the ocean. So that was their destination. Roxas mainly took point, with Xion giving him a quick directional update every so often. If Roxas was being honest, he was getting tired. He was basically dragging an injured adult through the ocean, and the human couldn’t even swim fast. If all legs were as useless underwater as the humans were than Roxas was glad he didn’t have any. Eventually Xion stopped him.

“Roxas, see that rock formation, that’s the entrance.” Roxas looked at the place she was pointing too. There were large thin rocks all piled on top of each other, they look like they had sunken down from higher up. Roxas pulled the human to the entrance. The human was very loud, Roxas had quickly found out. First, he had been yelling about drowning, whatever that was. Then after he calmed down, he spent half the trip just loudly chatting with Xion. At least Xion looked happy.

Xion grabbed the human’s other hand and the two merpeople quickly pulled him through the entrance, going through a long cave tunnel. Eventually they made it to the top, breaching the surface. It was a large space, what looked to be the original entrance was completely blocked off with a large stone boulder, smaller stones surrounding it. The roof of the cave had a large hole, letting in the sunlight. Roxas wondered if you could get up on the hole. Quickly letting go of the human Roxas watched as the human stood up, taking in the cave briefly before walking around in a circle. Xion jumped up onto the cave floor, content with sitting down.

Roxas stayed in the water.

Roxas watched as the human slowly stopping walking in a circle, facing both Xion and himself. The human whistled.

“Man, that was a close one. I knew Xemnas was pissed but a whole group of armed guards, what ever happened to subtlety huh.” The man grinned. “So, I think proper introductions are in order, I’m Axel.” Xion perked up.

“Oh right, Axel this is Roxas, he’s an old friend of mine.” Both Xion and the human were looking at him. He waved. Xion looked at him in slight confusion.

“I- I’m gonna see if I can get us some food, it looks like it’s pretty early in morning anyway.” Quickly diving underwater Roxas swam away, not waiting for a response.

\----------------------------------------------

Finding food hadn’t been hard, using his daggers with skilled ease he managed to catch a few fish he thought the human might be able to eat. He stopped. Humans, were way too confusing for Roxas. The man, Axel seemed nice enough but Roxas wasn’t sure. After all, Xion did say he betrayed the Organisation, meaning he had been a part of it. For how long he wondered, it that to have been over a year, but if they trusted the man with looking after Xion then he must have been important. Roxas scowled. The other humans Aqua and Terra had been alright, but the fact that they were so ready to go against the Organisation meant that they definitely hadn’t helped Roxas’s friends from the bottom of their hearts.

Then there was Sora’s old friends. Seeing them brush off Sora had made him so angry, and guilty. Sora had considered them precious to him yet they didn’t even recognise him. Roxas wondered if they would have still been friends if he hadn’t dragged Sora away that day. And now Sora was Poseidon knows were with them. What if they hated Sora, for leaving them without a reason, what if they still didn’t recognise him, even in mer-form. Roxas started swimming again.

Maybe Squall had been right, he had made this trip to find the truth for himself yet all he had seen was humans more that ready to turn on each other. Humans were all the same, angry and unreasonable. Yet if that was true, then why did Xion and Sora hold their human friends in such high regards. Roxas frowned. Naminé was a human, yet she was completely different from the other ones she had met. She had been nice to them, no agenda to fill. Hell, she had been scared of them, worried that they might attack her. He wondered what Ven’s human friends had been like, if he liked them enough to go to the surface to try find them, or traces of them. 400 years and Ven still cared for them, so they must not have all been bad. Roxas sighed. This was getting him nowhere. So he kept on swimming back to Xion and Axel.

Roxas poked his head up from the water. It seemed like Xion and the human were simply talking about anything. Roxas reluctantly got out of the water.

“I’m back.” He said bringing the two’s attention on him. He stiffened at their gazes. Xion’s face lit up.

“Roxas, wow that’s a lot of fish.” Roxas looked at the fish he had caught. He might have gone overboard but he had been angry, angry at the humans, angry at being split up, angry at himself. The human whistled.

“Man, it’s a good thing there are some scraps of wood in here, I don’t think my stomach would be happy with all that raw fish.” Roxas looked at him.

“Why not?” Roxas asked.

“Human stomach’s aren’t exactly made for raw meat. We cook food so we won’t get sick.” 

“Cook?” The human looked at him before grinning.

“Yeah. We use heat to kill the stuff in it that makes us sick.” Roxas thought over the information.

“So humans are just really weak?” He asked. After all, getting sick off of fresh food sounded horrible, if even a guppy could do it then why couldn’t a grown human. The human laughed.

“Yeah, we kinda are.” Roxas looked at him in confusion. Xion smiled.

“So Roxas, are you still training to become a guard?” Roxas looked at Xion, shaking his head.

“Nah, all you do as a guard is swim around town, hoping something happened. I’ve been training to become a hunter.” Originally, he and Sora had loved the idea of being part of the Royal Guard, something Squall would preen over. But once Roxas actually started training for it, he realised that it wasn’t as amazing as the other made it out to be. So, he quickly changed to becoming a hunter. Being a hunter meant that he could leave the city, exploring to his heart's content. He knew were all the good hunt spots were and it was always fun to bring back something special for him and Sora to have. The human looked confused.

“Do humans not have hunters?” Xion asked. The man laughed.

“Well I don’t think I would call them hunters but we do have fishermen. Also most of out food comes from farms so the people already own the animals.” Xion nodded.

“What’s your role than?” Roxas asked. The man winced, looking at Roxas.

“Well, technically I’m, well was, part of security. You know, making sure everyone was safe.” The human looked away for a moment.

“Then when Xion showed up I became the resident babysitter.” Xion slapped his shoulder. The human laughed. Roxas smiled slightly. 

The three began talking, with Axel happily talking about anything, Xion keeping the conversation flowing. Roxas would sometimes add in, slowly joining in on the conversation more and more. Eventually the conversation died down, the weariness of the day catching up to the three. Axel lied on the ground close to the water, one arm under his head. Xion was on his other side, her talking broken up by her yawns. Roxas was closer to the water's edge. He watched as slowly Axel and Xion drifted off, the conversation stopping. Roxas stopped his own yawn, lazily waving his own tail in the water. Quietly he dropped into the water, swimming to the entrance.

He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath before silently singing. He and his brother had created a song, something only the two would understand if they ever go split up. Roxas poured his soul into the song, hoping it would reach Sora. Once he was finished he waited, hoping to hear something. When no sound came back Roxas froze. He punched one of the rocks, anger and sorrow filling him. Shaking he swam back up to the cave, pausing a moment before breaching.

He looked at Xion and Axel. They had shifted slightly, with the arm Axel had originally had been using as a pillow was now spread out, his other was gently over Xion’s shoulder, holding her close. Roxas smiled slightly. Making his way over he lied down on Axel’s free side, facing towards the two-sleeping people. Roxas felt Axel’s arm wrap around him slightly. Roxas closed his eyes. Maybe humans weren’t all bad.


	10. Chapter 10

Sora was worried, while he hated to admit it splitting up had definitely been the best decision to make, but leaving Naminé behind, and having no idea if his brother or friends were safe was eating away at him. Not to mention the fact the he was currently all but dragging his old childhood friends through the ocean at insane speeds. He was on the biggest adrenaline rush of his life. He swum mainly on instinct, letting the currents take him somewhere safe, he knew that he could trust the currents, they had never failed him before. Eventually he realised that he recognised the area they were in, the rock formations become more distinct.

He was near the rocky area that he used to play in when he was younger. He headed straight for the secret hideout. The path had changed slightly over the years, certain openings he would weave through were now closed off, while new paths had opened. Following the paths, he eventually reached the back of the hideout. He breached the surface, allowing the two humans a chance to climb onto the cave floor before he pulled himself up, leaving only his tail in the water. He watched with bated breath as both Riku and Kairi caught their breath, Kairi lying on the ground with Riku sitting right beside her. Sora had never felt more like an outsider, seeing how close the two were. Eventually the two calmed down, looking over themselves quickly they suddenly froze, almost as if they remembered something. They both looked at Sora.

Suddenly feeling awkward and embarrassed, Sora jumped back into the water, diving down only a few feet. Maybe he should just leave, the two seemed fine after all. Suddenly Sora felt the water move as someone dived in. He looked up seeing Riku swim down to him. Sora panicked, quickly grabbing Riku and dragging him up, what was he thinking, humans can’t breathe underwater, Riku himself had told him that so why would he dive under. All but throwing Riku into the floor Sora looked at him in confusion. Riku smiled, waving away Kairi’s own concern.

“I’m fine Kairi.” He stated before turning to Sora.

“Sora, right.” He said, Sora watched as Kairi’s eyes lit up, quickly turning her head from Riku to Sora.

“Sora! Is that really you?” She exclaimed. Sora felt his heart swell, they remembered him! Quickly Sora jumped out of the water, sitting on the edge. He grinned.

“Riku, Kairi you remember!” He said, the two nodded, quickly walking over to him. The two sat next to him, looking him over.

“You’ve really grown up Sora.” Riku said. Sora blushed slightly. Of course he had, after all he and Roxas had taken training to become Royal Guards. Even after Roxas had quit, Sora had kept at it eventually becoming Ariel’s future personal guard. He wasn’t weak, using any weapon underwater was a trial in of itself, with the water making it harder to swing things. He had been so surprised with how fast he had used his spear when in the warehouse.

“So have the both you you, though i guess ten years will do that.” He said, placing his arms behind his head. It was true, Riku had become tall, his hair still short his silver tones shining under the light. Kairi had her hair tied up, but it was still as bright as it had been. Both Riku and Kairi looked toned, so maybe they had been training. Kairi laughed a little.

“Honestly, I didn’t recognise you at first, but leave it to Riku to realise you looked familiar. The legs really threw me off.” Sora laughed at that. He hadn’t really thought of that. Riku looked at him.

“How did you even do that?” He asked. Sora paused for a moment. He had kinda zoned out when Ven and Naminé had been talking about it.

“I don’t really know, Ven and Naminé are the ones who did it.” The two looked at him in confusion.

“Who?” Kairi asked.

“Oh, those are my friends, you’ve met them before remember. You called Naminé a… c-cryptid, I think. And the person she was kinda hiding behind was Ven.” The two nodded. “The girl with the black hair is Xion, and the other one was Roxas, my brother.” Sora deflated slightly.

He hoped Roxas was ok. He knew how much he was trying to make up for what he did ages ago but Roxas had always preferred other merpeople to humans. Even when he, Roxas and Ariel would go scavenge human wrecks Roxas would always be more interested in what the use was, rather than the fact they were human objects. And after everything that had happened in the Organisation’s warehouse, he didn’t think Roxas’s opinion of humans would brighten. Sora snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Riku.

“You ok?” Riku asked. Sora smiled slightly.

“Sorry, I was just thinking.” The two laughed slightly.

“Still got your head in the clouds I see.” Riku said. Sora pouted.

“Hey, says you. You escape from an evil warehouse and see if you don’t get distracted.”

“Sora, we all escaped, together.” Kairi reminded him. Sora pouted even more.

“So now what, we can’t exactly go home now, but I know my dad’s gonna freak if I don’t say anything.” Kairi said. Riku paused before sighing.

“Yeah, I don’t think my dad will like me not being home either.” Sora frowned.

“You didn’t tell them you were going out?” He asked. The two shook their heads.

“Are you kidding, if my dad knew I was planning on breaking and entering he would flip.” Kairi explained. Riku nodded.

“What were you two doing there anyway?” Sora asked, realising he didn’t know. Kairi looked away in embarrassment while Riku sighed.

“Honestly, we went looking for you and heard in on your plot to break in.” Sora froze on that. They had been trying to find him? Riku continued. “Besides even if we could just go home this weird green stuff won’t come off.” He poked the green magic still clinging to him. Kairi also looked at the magic, surprised as if she only just noticed. Sora thought about it a moment.

“Well I’m not completely sure what magic it is but if we can find Ven he can get rid of it.” The two looked at Sora.

“Magic?” Riku asked. Sora nodded.

“Sora, magic isn’t real.” Kairi said. Sora pouted.

“You two literally saw me change from human form to merform, have green magic floating around you and saw Naminé put up a barrier, but don’t think magic is real.” He said. The two thought for a moment before Kairi chuckled.

“Well you got me there.” Riku laughed at that. Suddenly he stopped and looked at Sora.

“Can you change into your human form again?” He asked. Sora thought over it. While he didn’t know the spell itself, he remembered what Aerith had said.

“The Necklaces should act as a conduit for your magic, something to store or use magic from.”

Closing his eyes, he focused on the necklace he tried to remember the feeling he had when he first changed. He remembered the calming winds that embraced his form, how it had been both warm yet chilling. He remembered how the ground had felt on his newly formed feet, how solid the world had felt. Opening his eyes, he looked at the two surprised faces of his friends. Looking down he could see he was in his human clothes again, he had transformed.

Taking a shaky step, he slowly stood up. The other two quickly followed, Riku grabbing his shoulder to steady him. He took a moment to get his balance before standing with more confidence. The first step was always the worst it seemed. He smiled at his friends. They still looked surprised.

“H-How did you do that!” Kairi asked, her eyes wide with shock. Sora looked at himself before looking back at the two.

“I’m not completely sure, but I think the ability to change forms was still in my necklace.” The two looked more confused.

“You necklace?” He nodded.

“Yeah, Aerith said it can store magic in it, I kinda just hoped it would work and it did.” He smiled. Riku sighed, a small smiling coming on to his face.

“Only you Sora.”

“So now what do we do.” The three paused at that, suddenly both Sora and Kairi’s stomachs rumbled. The two laughed.

“Food it is then.” Kairi said. Sora nodded. Riku frowned slightly.

“We still haven’t figured out the glowing problem yet.” He said. Sora paused, thinking it over before closing his eyes again. Ven had been able to feel the magic that Sora and Roxas apparently had, so maybe he could feel Ven’s and get it to leave. Or just dim some more. Focusing he could feel the slightest breeze. Quickly he latched onto the feeling, following it till he found the source of the power. He wasn’t completely sure what to do from there. So, he tried to get it to dim, he felt the strong winds die down slightly, still there but not as loud. Smiling he opened his eyes to see the magic almost non existent.

“It worked!” He exclaimed. The two looked at him, hoping for some answers.

“I tried to… lock on to the magic feeling and see if I could make it less obvious and it worked. Next time I see Ven I really need to ask him to teach me more.” Sora grinned.

“Come on let’s eat.” The two laughed, before leaving the cave, the three side by side.

\--------------------------------------------------------

It was late, the moon slowly making its way further up the sky. A figure ran through the streets, their dress torn slightly. They were silent, their body heaving as they took deep long breaths yet not a sound came from them. They were as silent as the night itself. They kept on running, hoping to get as far away as they could. They knew of only one safe spot yet it was so far away. They had seen him, the man who had placed a new-found fear in their heart. Yet they had brought something else to light. 

A new strength to their power that the figure never knew they had. The guard would not remember them leaving, of how they were manipulated to free the figure. As far as all present is concerned the figure had never been caught. So they kept running, their new found knowledge safely tucked into the corners of their mind. They had no time to mull it over, soon the time would come but for now they must hide.

The cold of the night bite at her as she ran but she felt it little, after all knowing her friends were safe was a warmth that the late-night chill couldn’t get rid of. She knew what she must do for come the next day, she knew she would need to find her friends.

So Naminé ran, her friends in her heart.


	11. Chapter 11

Considering what few short weeks Ven had known his new mer-friends he had to admit, he missed them. They hadn’t been separated that long, only a day having passed since their rescue mission but he missed how livly things had been. Sora always had something to say, never letting awkwardness hang in the air, and Roxas always had something to add to Sora’s tales. Xion would add in when Roxas would, adding her own snark to the conversation. Naminé would always laugh with Ven, helping him mediate the rowdier conversations. She would also tell human stories, stories that made everyone go quiet so they could hear her interesting tales.

Not that Ven didn’t like Aqua and Terra, in fact it was the complete opposite. They were close he could tell, comfortable with each other in a way that reminded Ven of himself and his old friends. The two humans easily let Ven slip into the little cracks that the two couldn’t fill on their own and the three found themselves enjoying their time together immensely. The three would bounce off each other, questions thrown around with answers and more questions following. Ven admired how dedicated they were too finding the truth, not just the most convenient answer.

After sometime, the three had decided that it would be a good time to go back to the shore, looking for their friends. Aqua had even said that if they couldn’t find them they could at least go back to their place and lay low. So Ven lead the two back to the shore. Making sure to surface in a secluded place he quickly let go of the humans, allowing them to walk to shore. Following them he transformed himself, shaking his now human legs. The two were watching him, obvious fascination in their eyes and Ven stood proud for a moment. He remembered how excited Marluxia had first been when he had transformed, even though it wasn’t the first ever transformation he had seen he had told Ven it was the most impressive. Ven smiled at the memory.

“So Ven,” Ven looked at Aqua, “I was wondering, you said you have a wind affinity, right? Does that mean that your transformation would look different with different affinities?” Ven nodded.

“Yeah, if Naminé did it, it would look more like a bright light, cause her magic is more of a neutral magic. If she tried to put a specific affinity into it the transformation would look different.” The two nodded. Ven paused for a moment looking at the two. Sheepishly he rubbed the back of his head.

“I should probably get rid of the breathing spell now, I don’t think humans will take well to you two glowing.” The two looked at each other before laughing.

“No, they probably wouldn’t.” Terra agreed. Focusing Ven felt out for his magic, focusing on the energy clinging to the two, pulling on the feeling he slowly let go of the magic, allowing it to freely float off the two. He watched as they looked at the small green lights floating off them, fading in the air. He smiled.

“Ok, now let’s find everyone.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walking around town had been surprisingly easy, he hadn’t seen anyone he recognised from the organisation and he knew that Aqua and Terra would have mentioned if either of them had. Aqua had gone to different people asking questions, mainly about Riku and Kairi but so far they hadn’t gotten anything. Ven noticed how happy people looked when they say Aqua and Terra, making their way over to just say hi, it was nice.  
Eventually Terra suggested that they stop and eat, picking a spot that was in the middle of town, if anyone they were looking for went to town, they would have to pass that spot. So, the three stopped at a café. 

Ven had to admit he was surprised with how many options there were, the menu was long and full of dishes he didn’t understand the half of, and the drinks might as well have been made up words. In the end Aqua ordered for him, which he had been very thankful of. The human world had changed so much and at times Ven had difficulty catching up. After finishing the three decided to walk towards Departure Labs, hoping that everyone might have though to go there.

The walk was peaceful, the people slowly thinning out as they left the more populated streets. Soon it was just the three of them, with a couple of people now and again. Suddenly Terra stopped.

“Terra?” Ven asked, looking at him. The older man smiled, ruffling Ven’s hair before yelling.

“Riku, Kairi is that you!?” Ven looked over, seeing three people quickly spin around. The two groups locked eyes before they started walking over. Or in Sora’s case running. Ven walked towards them, quickly catching Sora who all but flung himself into Ven. He laughed as Sora jumped around, hugging him tightly.

“Ven! It’s good to see you again. I have so much to tell you, also are you ok, did you get away alright, well I guess you had to too be here but still.” Sora babbled. Ven laughed again, squeezing Sora before letting go.

“It’s good to see you too Sora.” Ven smiled. Ven looked at Aqua and Terra who were talking to Riku and Kairi. He and Aqua locked eyes for a moment before Aqua cleared her throat.

“Ok, let's all head the to lab together. I’m sure that Axel and the rest will meet us there.” Sora looked downwards for a moment.

“Are you sure, shouldn’t we look of them?” He asked. Ven placed a hand on Sora’s shoulder.

“They’ll be fine, after all there’s no way Roxas would let anything happen to them.” Sora smiled slightly.

“Besides, they have Axel with them, he knows where our lab is.” Terra added. Sora smiled more.

“Ok.”

The lab itself was a mess. Aqua and Terra had both looked disappointed at the mess but calmly walked into the building. The furniture had been thrown around, paper and electronic devices were scattered on the floor. The draws were pulled out, their contents lying on the floor. Doors were left wide open, with anything that could have been a hiding place all but ripped apart. Aqua went to a desk, looking at one of the draws. 

Pushing a small button the bottom of the draw lifted up, allowing Aqua to open a secret compartment. Pulling out a small device Aqua pushed a button, causing the device to light up. Before anyone could speak Terra raised a finger to his mouth, indication for everyone to stay silent. Aqua quickly left the room doing a sweep of the whole building, eventually she came back, a small bag in her hand.

“We’re all good now.” She said. Riku and Kairi smiled, going over to look in the bag. Ven and Sora looked on in confusion. Aqua smiled lightly.

“This device was used to find bugs, so the organisation can’t hear us.” She explained. The two nodded, not fully understanding but getting the general gist. Suddenly the group heard a knock. Terra straightened up, signalling for everyone to stay put. Leaving the room everyone waited with bated breaths.

“Terra! Good to see you, you would not believe the day we’ve been having.” They heard Axel exclaim. Ven chuckled, beginning to understand what type of person Axel was. Making their way to the lobby the two groups met. Sora instantly ran up to Roxas, pulling him into a hug that his twin readily returned, walking up Ven gave a smaller hug to Xion.

“What no hug for me?” Axel said, looking at the group. Xion laughed, playfully punching him in the arm. Axel rubbed the spot a pout on his face. Eventually the twins let go, neither standing too far from each other. Ven smiled. All they were waiting on was Naminé. He hoped she was ok. He saw Xion also looked down.  
Placing a hand on her shoulder he whispered. “She’ll be ok.” Xion smiled at him.

 

Making their way to one of the less messy areas everyone sat down, relaxing on the couches. Everyone simply relaxed for a moment before looking at one another.

“Well then, I think proper introductions are in order.” Aqua said, everyone nodded.

“I’m Aqua, and I’m a marine biologist, that means I study sea life.” Ven nodded, he knew a little about what that job meant, after Aqua had explained it in more depth earlier on.

“Terra, I’m an archaeologist.” Ven had been surprised originally when Terra had explained what that was, to spend your life looking into other people’s history, it honestly sounded interesting.

“I’m Kairi, and I’m currently a student.”

“I’m Riku, also a student.” Ven knew that kids and teens went to school, although most of his friends hadn’t cause it cost so much, he wondered if it was still as expensive.

“I’m Sora! I’m in training to become a Royal Guard.” Ven though that job fitted Sora, he seemed like he would be good at protecting someone especially if he cared for them.

“I’m Roxas. I’m training to be a hunter.” Ven wondered if that was why he had been allowed outside the walls of the kingdom. After all it seemed like not many left the walls when they had visited.

“Axel, I use to be a bodyguard but due to my betrayal I’m out of the job. Got it memorised.” Ven was surprised at that, looking at Axel he didn’t look all that strong, or at least not built for strength. He wondered if Axel was more like him, fast.

“Xion, and I don’t really have a job.” That made sense, octopus are generally very solitary creatures and Ven knows that their mer-counterparts are the same. They were commonly referred to as drifters back in the day. Ven looked at everyone, seeing their eyes on him. It was his turn.

“Ven, and well, I haven’t exactly had a job for over 400 years.” It was kinda truthful, his job that he had been training for simply didn’t exist anymore, and his teacher had abandoned him and everyone just before the Great War anyway. Ven looked up seeing the confusion on some of the peoples faces. Magic floating off a few.

Suddenly he shot up, realising what was wrong. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his magic, calling to the energy of his breathing spell. It was strange how only one of them was loud and harsh, the other two had been suppressed, calmed down to a gentle breeze. Pulling on the magic he gently plucked it off, allowing it to float into the air. Opening his eyes he say the surprised faces of some watching the magic dissipate into the air.

“Sorry, I forgot all about it.” He admitted, getting a few laughed. Sitting back down he looked over at Sora who was practically vibrating in his seat. Sora took this as his chance.

“Ven, you missed it but I managed to make the green dim, and I transformed into my human form!” Sora proudly exclaimed. Roxas laughed next to Sora, lightly punching his arm.

“You’re not the only one Sora, me and Xion figured it out as well.” Sora lit up even more.

“Roxas, that’s amazing!” He exclaimed. Roxas blushed slightly. Ven had to admit he was impressed. Magic wasn’t easy, especially when you’ve had no formal training, vaguely Ven wondered if it was because of Aerith’s gifts.

“That’s nice and all, but would you mind explaining to the class just how this whole magic thing works?” Axel said. Riku and Kairi nodded. Ven laughed slightly, quickly giving everyone the same run down as he had with Aqua and Terra, explaining how magic works with humans and merpeople. After explaining the group sat in silence, letting the information sink in. Eventually Xion spoke.

“Ven, do you think you could teach me how to use magic.” Ven looked at her.

“I-I want to be able to protect myself, after everything that’s happened, I want to be strong enough to protect myself and everyone else I care about.” She explained. Ven looked at her. He knew that feeling it was why he had gone to Master Gula in the first place.

“Ok, I can teach you what you need to help protect yourself and others.” He said. Xion lit up.

“Thank you Ven!” She said. Suddenly Sora added in.

“Can you teach me as well.”

“Same.” Roxas said.

“Sure, I’d love too.” Ven said. The humans smiled, watching the merpeople excitedly chat amongst themselves. Eventually the excitement calmed down and the group re-focused.

“So, what now?” Axel asked. The group paused at that, after all they had freed Axel, so they didn’t really have a goal anymore.

“Well I need to look through all the evidence I got at the warehouse but Aqua and I have some unfinished business with the organisation.” Terra explained. Aqua sighed slightly.

“Xemnas, we think he has something to do with our teachers’ death.” She said.

“But didn’t he die of an overdose on his medication?” Kairi asked. Aqua shook her head.

“There’s no way he would accidentally overdose on his meds, we think someone tampered with the quantities of them, poisoning him.”

“But why would Xemnas want your teacher out of the way?” Roxas asked. Terra looked down.

“It’s not Xemnas specifically that wanted him gone, it’s Xemnas’s dad Xehanort. He and Eraqus use to be close, but they ended up following different directions. Xehanort always saw Eraqus as an obstacle in his work.” Terra explained angrily.

“We can’t just let him get away with killing our teacher.” Aqua said. The others nodded. Smiling slightly Aqua looked at the others.

“What about all of you?”

“Well I can’t leave just yet.” Axel said. Everyone looked at him.

“Me and Saïx got into the organisation together looking for someone and I can’t give up now. And I- I need to get Saïx out, that group has done nothing good for us.” He said sourly.

“Who were you looking for?” Kairi asked. Axel laughed at that.

“Couldn’t tell you her name, even she didn’t know it. Everyone just called her X.”

“She had amnesia?” Sora exclaimed. Axel nodded.

“Yeah, me and Saïx would meet her by the beach, and talk. She said she didn’t swim out very far because she didn’t know the area. Then one day she disappeared so me and Saïx joined the Organisation hoping it might lead us to her.”

“She was a mermaid?” Aqua asked. Axel nodded.

“What did she look like, maybe we’ve seen her.” Roxas said. Axel thought about it a moment before replying.

“Well she had long black hair, with bangs and brown eyes. She always had these pink star earrings in. She wore a grey crop top with a black cropped jacket. Her tail was a grey kinda colour I think.”

“D-did she have a belt with stars around her waist?” Ven asked, his voice low. Axel looked at him in surprise.

“Yeah, have you seen her?” Axel asked. Ven looked at Axel in shock. Skuld! They had to be Skuld. After all these years she was alive, or at least some descendant of hers was. With everything that had happened, after seeing Marluxia he hadn’t thought that anyone else had survived this long, yet here she was, or a least she was somewhere at the moment.

“Her name is Skuld, and she was my friend 400 years ago.” Ven explained. Axel looked at him in surprise.

“Do you really think the organisation might know something about her?” Ven asked. Axel thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure, at first we did but turns out that the org is only a branch of a bigger corporation. So it’s more likely that the major corp knows something.”

“I want to help you find Skuld, and I need to figure out what’s going on with Marluxia.” Ven said.  
Axel looked at Ven before grinning.

“You know for a 400-year-old you sure do know a lot of people.” Ven laughed.

“I guess so.” Axel looked at Aqua and Terra.

“Guess we’ll be helping you guys against the Organisation then.” The two looked happy.

“That would help a lot.” Aqua said, Terra nodded in agreement. Axel looked at Xion.

“So what are you gonna do now?” He asked. She looked at him before looking at Roxas.

“I-I want to help you, at least till you get your friend back. The Organisation is dangerous and I don’t want to just let you run into that on your own. I-if I can learn how to use my magic then I can protect you and make sure the Organisation never hurts us again.”

“Well, welcome aboard I guess.” Ven said.

“We want to help too.” Kairi said.

“After all we’re already deep in this and we can’t exactly run from this now.” Riku added.

“I want to help to.” Sora exclaimed. ‘It’s my job to protect others and I can’t let the organisation keep hurting innocent merpeople like this. If we all do this together then I know we can take them down!” Sora looked at Roxas.

“Roxas, I know you don’t like humans, but this is more than just humans, this is affecting everyone, and it's affecting our friends.” Roxas looked away.

“I know that, I can’t leave this, if I do then I’ll never fully understand humans. I want to find my own understanding.” Roxas said quietly. Looking up he looked at Aqua.

“Sign me up I guess.” Everyone grinned.

“Well then, it seems that the only person we’re waiting in is Naminé.” Aqua said. Ven looked away at that. She still hadn’t shown up. Ven thought for a moment before sighing softly.

“I think I can find her.” He said. Everyone looked at him.

“I know a spell, it allows me to look for magical energies, so if I find hers, I will know where she is, but it’ll take some time.” Everyone nodded.

“We’ll protect you Ven.” Sora said, Roxas and Xion nodded. Ven smiled.

Closing his eyes, he spread out his energy. It was a hart spell to cast, having to spread yourself thin and across the world. It was a little easier for him, the winds of the world carrying his energy around for him. He could feel the strong sea breeze as it carried him around. He could feel the puffs of breath every living being made. How the trees and plants brought new winds to the world. He felt the soft air wafting from people’s homes, stringing him along. 

Eventually he felt something different. A wind that was a hurricane, emotions blowing around in a rapid of feelings, yet the owner missing them all as they stood in the eye of the storm.  
It was Naminé. And she was scared, and confused and so many emotions that Ven couldn’t quite grasp. Pulling his wind towards her he tried to reach her, calming the storm that raged inside her. Eventually it calmed down. He felt her energy lock onto his, felt himself lead her back to them. To her friends. Soon the feeling of her magic became stronger and stronger till he knew she was here.

He opened his eyes.  
Naminé walked into the room. She smiled.

“I’m back everyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skuld: Catfish


	12. Chapter 12

Xion was ecstatic, after Naminé’s return she had been filled in on everything that had happened. Naminé had swiftly joined them on their mission, stating she had her own reasons, a fire burning in her eyes. She had also been more than happy to help Ven with his magic lessons.

So here they were, Xion was standing next to Sora and Roxas as they waited for their lesson to start. They were using the back of Departure Labs, with Aqua and Terra’s consent. It was a large grassy area, with a stone area near the door. There were a few chairs, which Riku, Kairi and Axel were currently occupying. Aqua and Terra had gone off to look over the evidence they had collected. Ven and Naminé were standing in front of them, talking quietly to each other, Xion wondered what they were saying. Eventually the two turned towards Xion and the twins.

“Ok, so first step to magic is figuring out what your affinity is.” Ven stated. Xion had an idea of what hers might be, after she had transformed herself to human form.

“The main affinities are Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Light, Dark, Healing or Barrier.” Ven explained. “I have Air affinity and Naminé has Barrier affinity.”

“To figure out what affinity you all have, you’ll need to meditate. Doing this you can look inside yourself as figure out what calls to you.” Naminé continued. “We’ll help you all meditate.”

They all sat on the floor, crossing their legs and closing their eyes. Slowly Naminé lead them through a meditation exercise. Xion felt it working, slowly going into a relaxed state. Reaching deep within herself Xion felt for magic. All around her was a cold enveloping darkness yet it soothed and comforted her. The darkness was large, a never-ending stream that consumes all, an inky mass that slinks into all places, enveloping all. Yet it's a comfort, a blanket to protect against the cruelties of the world, to swaddle her safely within its cold endless abyss. Opening her eyes, she knew, her affinity was darkness.

Next to her Roxas was also in a meditative state. He felt himself detaching from everything, leaving only himself and his magic. Despite his eyes being closed all that surrounded him was light. It was forever near, shining a path for him to follow. It was a comfort, its harsh warmth warming his skin, reminding him of the light in the world. It was the feeling of laying in the sun, letting all worries flow freely from his body. To truly let everything go and simply be content. Roxas smiled, his affinity was light.

Sora was having a harder time, meditation was never easy for him, being a bit to hyper for it. Feeling a tap on his shoulder he opened his eyes seeing Ven.

“How about we try a different type of meditation.” Sora nodded. The two fell into a rhythm, playing simple hand games such as patty cake with each other, soon Sora felt it working falling into a meditative state. Magic was everywhere, he knew that now and the moment he had been told so the world became brighter. To see the sky and feel the energy that flows through the wind. Too look at a flame and feel the heat on his skin. To feel the vibrations of the earth under his feet. To see the seas and feel the flow of waves and currents. All the elements working in harmony each with its own feelings and energies. Sora felt them all. And they made him feel alive. Sora opened his eyes, looking at Ven. His affinity wasn’t just one element, it was four of them.

The group stood up, looking at each other in excitement, the three were bursting to talk about their magic, the feelings it gave them. Naminé and Ven smiled.

“So, it worked I’m guessing.” Ven asked. The three nodded.

“I’m pretty sure I have light.” Roxas said.

“I have dark.” Xion said with a nod.

“I think I have four affinities?” Sora said. Ven looked at him, a soft smile on his face.

“Which ones?” He asked. Sora thought for a moment.

“Air, Water, Earth and Fire.” Ven and Naminé looked at each other a moment before smiling.

“Sora, you have the four base elements, that’s quite rare.” Naminé explained.

“While you have less magical weaknesses it also means that they’ll be harder to control.” Ven added. “Every person has a limited mana pool, and the more affinities you have, the more the pool is split up, so your individual elements might not be that strong but it you use multiple at the same time, they’ll be stronger. That’s what makes people with multiple affinities so strong.”

Sora looked at Ven and Naminé in aw, so him having four elements had lots of meaning. He looked at Roxas and Xion who looked impressed.

“Roxas, because you have light magic you can effect things that most people can’t even see. Some people who had light affinity were said to be able to manipulate the world and its events. Thought light magic is a lot more technical, so it can take longer to cast, and you need a deep understanding of it.” Naminé explained. Roxas thought about it. He knew that if he wanted to learn any type of magic, he would have to commit himself, so it didn’t matter if his was more technical, he was ready for it.

“Xion, while dark magic is strong, you need to be careful. Dark magic if cast on another can corrupt them, causing them to become completely different. It can protect or hurt other, you just need to make sure you put the right intent into your magic.” Ven said. Xion looked down. She had been excited to learn magic, wanting to find one that would help her and her friends, and in the end she got the cursed one. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up she saw Naminé.

“Don’t worry, having you on our side will definitely help if we ever run into a dark witch.” Xion smiled, blushing slightly at that.

“Ok, so how about we split up into two groups. I’ll take Sora and Xion and teach them some basic elemental stuff while Naminé takes Roxas and shows him some of the incarnations to start out with.” Ven suggested. The two groups agreed, splitting off to different parts of the yard.

It took time, getting them to focus on their element, not getting lost in the energies of neutral magic but by the end of the day the three felt like they had learnt quite a bit. Sora and Xion had started of with simply trying to summon their element, holding a physical version in their hand. While Sora has easier times with certain elements, Xion took a bit longer to get hers to hold its form. Then the two learnt how to use it, simply throwing their element. Ven assured them that he wouldn’t let it damage anything. Form their they went into more specifics. Trying our different ways of holding onto it or what ever form it held. They learnt how to manipulate its form, making it not damage specific areas.

After a few hours the two groups met back up, showing each other what they had learnt. Roxas showed of similar techniques, holding a ball of light in his hand, dimming and brightening it on command. Xion held a ball of darkness, moving it from one hand to the other, its shape elongating and shrinking. Sora then showed off his four elements, holding two in each hand, and attempting to juggle them to their amusement. 

Soon they were called inside for food. Aqua and Terra had managed to convert parts of the lab into temporary sleeping areas, taking a common area and adding a few beds from the small medical room, a mattress and some blankets and pillows for the couches. The dinner was lively, everyone sitting together joking and relaxing after a long day. Everyone shared what they had learnt, the merpeople more than happy to tell stories of their people, with the humans doing the same. Soon it was time to sleep.

Sora and Roxas had quickly shared a bed, saying they were used to it. Aqua and Terra doing the same. Ven took a mat, saying he preferred being lower to the ground anyway. Axel took the couch, laying down and all but passing out immediately. Naminé took the last bed, with Xion taking a couch, sayings that she preferred the smaller space.

\---------------------------------------------------

It was late, and Xion knew everyone was asleep. She had tried to be as quiet as possible when leaving the room, hoping not to wake anyone. Despite all the training she had done in the day she still felt like something was wrong. She didn’t want to be weak, not after everything that had happened. So she went to the backyard, focusing on her magic. The dark of the night only helped her, making her feel more comfortable. It felt like she was in her element and her confidence was leaking to her magic.

She held the darkness in her hand, looking at the form. It was almost like a liquid, its movements fluid yet it never lost its form, staying up like a flame. It made her feel powerful, but scared. What if she did something wrong, what if she hurt her friends. Ven had told her it would act on her intent but when ever she thought of the Organisation, she would get angry, a silent rage filling her that would leak onto her magic. And she never wanted that feeling projected onto her friends. Looking at her now empty hands she sighed, sinking onto the ground. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this.

“It’s a beautiful night tonight isn’t it.” Xion jumped slightly, turning around seeing Naminé. She looked at the sky. There was no moon, only the dark sky with few stars twinkling. She could make out constellations Axel had told her of. Naminé was looking up, the stars reflecting off her eyes. She looked enchanting.

“Yeah, it is.”

“So, what brings you out this late?” Naminé asked, her tone light and calm. Xion paused at that, just why had she come out here, why truly.

“I-I want to be stronger.” She eventually admitted. She looked at Naminé, looking of anything accusatory, yet Naminé simply smiled, her eyes never leaving the sky.

“I understand that feeling.” She said. Xion looked at Naminé in surprise. Naminé was one of the strongest people Xion knew.

“When I was younger, me and my family use to live in this town. We had a small house by the beach that my dad had built by hand. He was so proud of it.” Naminé said. A frown appeared on her face. “One day people came to our house, pulling my mother and father from inside, they were yelling at them, pulling them along. I got lost in the chaos and when everyone left, I was alone.” Naminé gave a deep breath.

“They killed my parents, someone outed us as witches and my parents were killed for it. I never knew who had done it, who had outed them.” She chuckled darkly. “Till now anyway.” Naminé looked at Xion. Xion moved closer to Naminé. 

“When everyone left, i-I ended up talking to Xemnas, he…” Naminé took another deep breath. Xion held her hands. 

“He was the one, apparently he knew about witches and didn’t want us getting in the way, so he killed my family.” Tears fell from her eyes. “I thought that the town cared for me and my family, but it shows how wrong I was, I guess witches are just unlovable.”

Xion sprung up at that, wrapping her arms around Naminé. Naminé instantly returned the hug, burying her head into Xion’s shoulder.

“That’s not true Naminé, after all I… I love you.” Naminé’s head shot up. The two locked eyes, their faces red.

“I-I know we haven’t known each other for that long but you’ve always been there for me, and I want to be there for you. I love seeing you smile, how you light up at the stupid remarks I make. I love listening to the stories you tell, or seeing you get excited about something. I care about you Naminé.”

“Honestly, I, I feel the same.” Namine chuckled slightly. “You just make everything easy. I don’t always find it easy to talk to people, or laugh and simply be with others but being with you seems right. Your always so full of life, always having an emotional response when sometimes I feel like I’m too detached from everything.”

The two smiled at each other, their faces inches apart. Leaning in the two touched foreheads, simply soaking in the contact. Eventually parting, the two walking back inside hand in hand. As the went Xion felt her earlier negative thoughts floating away. She might not be able to protect everything, but she would always protect Naminé.


	13. Chapter 13

After a few more days of training Terra called everyone into the break room. The room had become an unofficial meeting room between the group and they all quickly walked in. Sitting around the room everyone chatted with one another about anything, the merpeople’s training had been going well, with Sora, Roxas and Xion being able to easily summon their element. Aqua and Terra smiled at the group, both looking at each other before Terra stood up, causing the rest of the group to quiet down.

“We’ve looked through all the evidence we got and while we have enough to shut down Xemnas’s Organisation there’s a problem.” Terra said. The group looked at him and Aqua.

“Due to the fact that it was experiments on merpeople human courts might not, accept it as real. After all they don’t know about the existence of humans.” Aqua explained. Everyone paused at that. Now what?

“There are two things we could do. If we present this as humans smuggling humans, we could get him convicted or, if we prove the existence of merpeople we could possibly got him convicted.” Aqua sighed.

“The only issue with that is we don’t know how the government would react to merpeople’s existence. We don’t know if the government would try to hide the existence of merpeople or try to discover more about it. Honestly, it’s a gamble.”

“If we can get a confession from Xemnas that he’s been poaching and illegally selling people than it would be easy, but it would be that easy.” Aqua looked down.  
Not to mention that if he found out that the police were onto him, he would just leave.” Terra added.

“Well, if we need to use merpeople as evidence there are ways of doing that without putting the kids in danger.” Axel said. Everyone looked at him. “The Organisation, they… when they captured merpeople they would put some away in special tubes to ‘preserve’ them. I don’t know if they’re alive or not but they could be used as fully in tact evidence.” Axel looked away in disgust. “Not to mention all the people who bought merpeople as pet.”

“So we need to go back?” Naminé asked. Aqua sighed.

“I think so. I have a friend in the Soldier Division who can help us but we might need to go in for ourselves.” Riku, Kairi and Axel looked at Aqua in surprise.

“You know someone from Soldier?” Kairi exclaimed. Aqua laughed slightly at that.

“Zack is in the Soldier Division.” The three humans looked even more shocked.

“What’s Soldier?” Sora asked. Terra laughed at that.

“It’s a special division of the government, they deal with foreign issues, like incidents of supposed magical or extra-terrestrial issues. He moved to town when there was the witch incident, so about 7 years ago.”

“Apparently they hold tons of power with their job, they can go anywhere and get any info no questions asked.” Kairi added. The merfolk looked at the group in surprise. They knew someone that important.

“If he gets involved then there might be more chance of this case being confidential, so that could help the merfolk out.” Axel stated. The group thought about it.

“Ok, so we show this Zack guy the evidence we gathered, then go into the Organisation base again to make sure that Xemnas can’t run, and gather evidence of merpeople’s existence. Then what?” Roxas asked.

“If we can gather the other members then we can use them as evidence as well, we make sure none of them leave and wait for the cops to show up and arrest them all.” Riku said.

“Will this Zack person really help us?” Xion asked. Aqua nodded.

“He’ll help, after all he owes me one.” The group nodded at that.

“Great, so now we just need to figure out how to get back in.” Axel said. The group agreed, brainstorming ideas.

It took some time, with multiple brainstorming sessions but the group had a plan. They would break into three main groups, each taking a different part of the base. Sora, Ven and Axel would look for Marluxia and Saïx, two of the bigger players in the group. Roxas, Kairi and Terra would try to find the other merpeople, taking down any members they ran into. Xion, Riku and Naminé would secure the base, making sure no one could leave through the boat exit or simply swimming away. Lastly Aqua would wait for Zack, leading him to Xemnas to make an official arrest. It was a solid plan, at any rate.

\----------------------------------------------

The group were now waiting on Zack, who Aqua and Terra had left to find and explain the situation to. Sora was happily chatting away to Ven and Axel, who were doing a good job at keeping up with him. Xion and Naminé were sitting together, chatting quietly to each other. Riku had gone out, wanting to grab everyone some food and some changes of clothes. That left Roxas unsure what to do. Suddenly Kairi jumped in front of him.

“Hey, Roxas right, it’s nice to actually get a moment to talk to you.” She said. Roxas looked at her in surprise, she wanted to talk to him?

“Uh, yeah.” He replied a little starstruck.

“Sora’s told me and Riku a ton about you but I would rather hear about you from you, you know.”

“I guess, Sora’s told me a lot about you two as well.” It was more recently but he still had. After what had happened all those years ago the two never talked about it, but after seeing the two humans on land again Sora had started telling Roxas about his human friends, what they had been like, what they three had done together. Sora’s excitement only grew when he came back, his human friends remembering who he was. Roxas felt like he knew two versions of Riku and Kairi.

“So tell me about yourself.” Kairi said. Roxas looked at her. She sure was blunt.

“I’m gonna need more to go off on then that.” He said, she thought about it for a moment before smiling,

“Well you and Sora are pretty close right, were you always like that.” Roxas froze, Sora’s words from long ago ringing in his head. He looked away.

“Mostly, we didn’t exactly have parents and being twins makes you stick together. We were all each other had when we were younger.” There had been others in their lives, Squall, Cloud, Xion and Riku and Kairi but the two had been close, always telling each other everything.

“Huh, I’ve never had a sibling before, it must be nice.” Kairi looked around the room a moment before whispering to Roxas. “Don’t tell Aqua, but I kinda see her as an older sister.” Kairi admitted. Roxas smiled slightly at that.

“Riku has three older brothers but they moved away ages ago. They were tons older than him. He also has three younger brothers who are triplets.” Roxas was surprised at that. He didn’t know many people who had siblings, with merfamilies unlikely to have more than one kid. The royal family was usually an exception to the rule, due to their kids having to become monarchs of different seas.

“Do all humans have large families?” Roxas asked. Kairi laughed softly, shaking her head.

“He’s kinda an exception. Most people only have two kids, Riku’s dad has had a few different wives so he ended up getting tons of siblings.” Roxas nodded.

“Kinda like merpeople, we generally only have one kid. The only people who have siblings are people with twins or different parents.” Roxas said. Kairi looked surprised at that.

“Wow, only one kid. So, you and Sora being brothers is rare.” Roxas smiled at that. It was a blessing and a curse being a twin. While merpeople saw it as a sign of luck, there was a higher risk of one of the twins being born a witch, or as Roxas had now learnt someone with high magic potential.

“Do, do humans have lots of superstitions?” Roxas asked. Kairi looked taken aback for a moment before thinking.

“Well we definitely have tons of wives tales but most people aren’t overly superstition. Some people might follow a superstition out of habit or as a joke more than anything.”

“What types do you know?”

“Hm, well there’s one where if a person jinx’s themselves they say touch wood, or touch a surface to get rid of the jinx. Some people say break a leg before people go out to do a performance or big job, its meant to be good luck though I think it sounds a bit weird. There are more intense ones but those two are pretty popular. What about you?” Kairi said.

“Well we have some like if you pick the odd scale off a fish then it’s considered good luck. If you see a fish be taken by a bird it’s considered a sign that a human will do the same too you. Also, it’s considered bad luck to swim in front of a lone person singing to another.” Those were the first he could think of. Most were about finding strange objects or odd natural formations but some were of word of mouth.

“Huh, I guess humans and merpeople aren’t that different after all.” She smiled. Roxas looked at her in confusion, opening him mouth to ask when Riku walked into the room, bags hanging off his arm, his hands full of thin boxes.

“I got pizza!” Riku stated, unceremoniously dropping the boxes with the ‘pizza’ on the counter. Quickly he dropped the two bags he had, opening the box to show a flat round object. Kairi quickly moved towards the food, everyone floating over too see the food. Roxas sighed slightly before also going towards the mystery food, the question he had already leaving his mind.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plan was set. Everyone was in place, ready for the signal. They had gotten Zack on board, and he said he would be bringing a team with him. After one final check Aqua nodded, quietly opening the door. It was midday, a time when Axel had said almost everyone would be there. Some of the night people might not, but with everything that had been happening he bet Xemnas wouldn’t like his warehouse being empty. The groups poured in, splitting up into their three groups. They had a higher chance of being spotted this time so everyone was on high alert.

Roxas, Kairi and Terra peeled off to the left, going straight towards the labs. They were team 1.  
Sora, Ven and Axel headed towards the offices, hoping to run into Marluxia or Saïx, they were team 2.  
Xion, Riku and Naminé all went forwards, heading to the security room. They were team 3.  
Aqua went back outside, waiting for Zack and his team to show up. Each team had a phone on them, with a promise to text Aqua anytime anything happened no matter how small. So, they set off.

Sora looked at Ven and Axel in worry, making sure to simply keep up with the two. They were fast and silent on their feet, a practised skill that helped the two make their way through the hallways. Sora knew that walking was his weakest area, but with how silent the two were it made him feel like he was walking on glass in steel boots. Eventually the two stopped, Axel pointed towards a room, seeing the door opened slightly. Someone was in there. Sora made his way to the front of the group, he may not be the quietest but he definitely was the most physically able. If something happened he would protect his friends.

Pushing open the door revealed a man sitting at a desk. He was facing away from the door, his head down as he wrote on some paper. Sora quietly pushed the door further open, allowing the three to sneak in. It didn’t seem like this was one of the people they were looking for, so Sora began to simply walk up to him. The person at the desk froze, quickly looking up at Sora. Sora waved. The young man’s eyes were on Sora, his long silver hair covering one if his eyes. He looked like he recognised Sora.

“You were one of the people from the break in.” He stated; his voice just slightly quivering. Sora smiled.

“Yep, were you there?” He asked. The silver haired man nodded, a little starstruck before he noticed the two behind Sora.

“Axel?” He asked incredibly. Axel laughed at his reaction.

“Hey Zexion, what not happy to see me.” Zexion frowned at him.

“Seeing as how I’m not already dead I’m guessing you’re not here to kill me.” Sora and Ven looked at Axel in confusion. Axel just shrugged.

“Sorry to tell you but I don’t do that work anymore. We’re doing this the legal way.” He explained. Zexion looked at them with an unreadable expression before sighing. He slumped in his chair, leaning his head back.

“Well, it seems that the law has finally caught on.” A small smile was on Zexion’s face.

“You’re ok with that?” Ven asked. The man laughed softly.

“Not all of us like the work we do here, we all have our reasons for staying and not everyone gets an easy escape as Axel did.” The man looked up at them. “I-I’m grateful this god forsaken place will be gone, I’ve done too many horrible things here. You don’t need to worry about me, I’ll simply stay here. Though if I’m to be arrested I’d like to make some calls, I need someone to look after my cat.” With that Zexion pulled out his phone, quickly typing on the screen. Axel lead the two out, allowing Zexion a moment to make a call.

“Is this ok?” Ven asked. Axel nodded.

“It’s true, not everyone’s in the job because they want to be. Zexion is only in it ‘cause he started young, it was his masters work but it derailed into this mess.” Axel sighed. “Come on, we still need to find Marluxia and Saïx."

\---------------------------------

Naminé was nervous, it had been a bit since she had been here but the place still made her feel uneasy. She felt Xion’s hand slip into her own giving her a comforting squeeze. Naminé smiled slightly. It wasn’t hard getting to the security room, easily slipping by the meeting room. It seemed that most people were spread out currently, judging by the lack of people they had seen. Standing in front of the security room was a person. He had long black hair with white streaks throughout. He had an eyepatch and a scar on his face. Suddenly he turned towards them a smile on his face.

”Well, well if it isn’t poppet, didn’t think you had it in you to come back here again” Naminé felt Xion’s hand grip tighter.

“Xigbar, I thought you stayed near Xemnas’s office.” Xion replied, her voice stiff. The man simply chuckled.

“Well now, you have a voice, and here all I thought you could do was scream. In fact, I’m surprised you know my name at all, it seems Axel leaked quiet a lot of information out.” There was a dangerous glint in his eye. Everyone tensed, ready for a possible fight when Xigbar suddenly shrugged.

“Well, it’s not my business either way, I’ve got my own orders to carry out.”

“What from Xemnas.” Riku asked. Xigbar looked at them.

“No, these orders come from the top.” With that, Xigbar walked away, towards Xemnas’s office. 

\-------------------------------

Terra lead the two teens deep into the lab. While he wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea of bringing teens into these issues, he knew it was better than simply letting them do their own thing, possibly getting into danger. Terra clenched his fist as he walked, remembering everything Xehanort had done to him and Eraqus. How he had tried to get Terra to work under him, in some twisted plot to destroy Eraqus even more. He remembered how tempted he had been, to be recognised for his skills. It was thanks to Aqua he had stayed and he was thankful for that choice every passing day.

Terra remembered the tanks they were looking for, and he wasn’t to optimistic on finding any alive merpeople, he just hoped Roxas and Kairi would be ok, especially after Kairi and Riku’s initial reactions the first time. Reaching the doors, he paused, staying silent to see if he could hear anything. It sounded like there were people inside, he could hear faint conversations. 

He knew that all three of them could handle themselves in a fight, himself having done Kendo since a young age, and Roxas had said he was a hunter, the two daggers he carries a testament to this. Kairi and Riku had been play fighting since they were little, and while Aqua denied it Terra knew she had taught Kairi a thing or two.

Looking at the two he gave a signal, getting on their guard the three walked in.


	14. Chapter 14

Kairi had to admit she was nervous. After all it wasn’t everyday you re-break into a secret evil lair to take down a criminal organisation. Nervously she watched as Terra placed his hand on the door, slowly and as quietly as he can push open the door. She wondered if they would have to fight. She knew she and Terra could fight, Riku telling her all about the different types of martial arts Terra had learnt. She had been play-fighting with Riku since they were kids, and with Aqua’s extra help she knew she could hold her own in a fight. She wasn’t completely sure about Roxas, but considering the fact he called himself a hunter and constantly carried around two daggers, she wasn’t too worried.

Entering the room Kairi quickly looked around. She recognised the room, the large fogged up tanks off to one side. There were three people in the room, all in different parts. One man with long blond hair was sitting at a desk, looking into a microscope. Next to the man was another man with short almost buzzed hair, his ears covered in piercings. He was leaning back in his chair, simply shuffling cards in his hands. The last man was a bigger man, his long black locks tied messily back, he had a long purple lance next to him. He must be the guard.

“I’ll go after the big guy.” Roxas whispered, slowly pulling out his daggers, Terra looked at him for a moment before nodding.

“I’ll go for the one with the cards, Kairi try knocking out the scientist.” Terra whispered. Kairi nodded, taking a deep breath. This is it. Quickly Roxas shot out, running towards the larger man, the man looked up in alarm, grabbing him lance and meeting Roxas head on. Terra took that as his chance, racing towards the cards man, the man started throwing his cards, which Terra quickly dodged. Kairi snuck around the fighting, making her way towards the scientist.

The man had shot up, quickly grabbing armfuls of his notes before shuffling towards the back corner of the room. Kairi ran at him, going for a solid punch, the man jumped back in surprise, dropping his notes. The scientist glared at her; his green eyes hot with anger. He pulled a small round object from his pocket, clicking a button on it causing it to expand. Kairi looked at the newly formed shield in surprise, before quickly dodging out of the way of one of his swipes. Rolling to the side she looked at the shield, she had to do something about it. She looked around before her eyes landed on the dropped notes, making a run she quickly got the notes, the man looked at her is surprise, his eyes glaring at her. She picked them up, both her hands gripped firmly on the top.

“If you don’t want me ripping these notes then drop the shield.” She said, putting her best serious face on. The scientist paused, slightly lowering his shield, Kairi took the chance throwing the notes away as she ran at him, punching his arm. The man winced, letting go of the shield to grab at the now hurt part, Kairi quickly kicked the shield away, walking towards the man. The scientist realising his mistake backed up till he hit a table. He looked at Kairi in fear as she punched him, knocking him out.

Looked at the man Kairi was satisfied that he was out she looked at Terra and Roxas. They were still fighting, and by the looks of it winning. The card man was seemingly out of cards, which were scattered all around Terra, Terra looked slightly out of breath from all the dodging but otherwise fine. The guard looked worse for ware, cuts on his arms from Roxas’s daggers, Roxas only had one cut on his cheek. Trusting the two to finish their battles Kairi began looking around, hoping to find more evidence against the organisation. She read some of the notes, her nose crinkling in disgust. They were inhuman, the cruelty the people here practiced made her skin crawl. She heard the sound of a thud and looked over, seeing the card dealer on the floor. Terra looked at the man sadly before looking around. His eyes locked onto hers and he walked over.

“You ok?” He asked. Kairi laughed slightly nodding.

“I should be the one asking you that, the scientist was a big baby.” Terra laughed under his breath. The two looked over at Roxas as he landed the knockout blow causing the guard to crumple, falling to the floor. Roxas stood for a moment, catching his breath before looking at Kairi and Terra. Terra quickly walked to the door, grabbing the small bag he had brought. Opening it he pulled out some rope, binding the now unconscious organisation members.

“Ok, now we need to find the merpeople.” Roxas said, putting away his daggers. They three walked towards the tanks, the fogged glass making it impossible to see inside. Kairi gulped.

“A-are they in there?” She asked, remembering what she and Riku had seen last time. Terra looked at the small control panel, reading the buttons. He sighed slightly.

“Do you two want to guard the door?” He suggested. Kairi and Roxas looked at each other before nodding, understanding the hint.

“Don’t take too long.” Roxas replied, walking towards the door. Kairi followed him. The two stood in the hallway for a bit, silence hanging between them, Kairi sighed.

“You know Roxas, you’re really fast with those daggers.” She said, trying to start a conversation. Roxas paused a moment but took the bait.

“Well it’s a lot easier to use them on ground then underwater.” He replied.

“OH that makes sense, cause there’s no water tension on land.” Roxas nodded.

“It does make it kinda hard to fight though, I keep putting too much strength behind everything.” He muttered. Kairi laughed.

“When this is over you should try fighting Riku, with wooden swords of course.” Roxas smiled at that.

“Maybe I will.” The two stopped, watching Terra walk out the room. He looked slightly pale.

“You ok?” Kairi asked. Terra smiled lightly.

“Let’s keep moving.”

\---------------------------------------

Making their way towards the Bay was more nerve racking then Xion realised. The first time she hadn’t known what the room was, then the second time she had had Axel with her. She felt Naminé’s hand gently squeeze hers, causing her to look at Naminé. Naminé smiled at her, making Xion feel warm. She could do it, she had Naminé with her after all. Suddenly Riku stopped them.

“Someone’s coming.” He whispered, the two quickly hid by the wall, trying to stay out of sight. Riku stood near the corner, ready to jump at the person. It was a large person, with orange curly hair. He had an axe sword in hand. The man walked past them, continuing his patrol. Suddenly Riku ran at the man, jumping onto his shoulders, getting the man in a headlock. The guard dropped his weapon, reaching up to get rid of Riku. Riku held on strong, not letting up. Eventually the man crumbled, falling to his knees, then the floor. Riku let go, quickly grabbing the rope from his bag and tying up the man.

“Is there any empty rooms near?” He asked. Naminé quickly pointed at a room they had just passed. Riku all but dragged the unconscious man into the room, making sure to remember where the room was before continuing on. The two girls following behind. 

Riku was on alert. Going into this place again had put him on nerves and while he knew the girls could protect themselves, he still worried for them. Not that he would say it. The guard had surprised Riku, and when he had simply walked past them it had thrown Riku off, before he knew it he had knocked the man out. Riku shook his head, he needed to let it go and keep on moving.

Soon the trio had made their way to the security room, or at least where Aqua had said it was. Looking at the door he could see the sign stating that the room was in fact the security room.

“Do we need to go in?” Xion asked. Riku nodded.

“It’ll be a lot easier if we don’t get caught because of security cameras.” He explained. The girls nodded. Opening the door there was a person in the room. Her blond hair had two spikes at the front. She looked at the three in surprise.

“Who the hell are you?” She asked. Xion glared at her.

“It doesn’t matter.” She stated before summons a small ball of darkness into her hand. She quickly threw it at the lady knocking her back. Riku took it as his chance, running over to the enraged lady. The woman picked herself up, all but throwing herself at Riku in a blind rage of fists and small knives. Riku dodged, knocking the knives out of her hands as he punched her. The two exchange fists till Riku lands the final blow, knocking the woman down. Making her way over Xion glares at the woman.

“This is for all the times you harassed me.” Xion said before punching the woman is a dark coated fist. The woman went limp. Xion stood there huffing for a few moments before Naminé placed a hand on her shoulder. Riku turned away, letting the two have a private moment. Making his way over he looked at the screens. He could see were everyone was, he guessed that the woman hadn’t been doing her job.

\---------------------------------------

Ven was worried, he could feel the dread filing the pit of his stomach. Everything was running smoothly and it made him concerned. He knew it was a stupid thing to be worried about yet he couldn’t help himself. Looking at Sora and Axel he felt the worry grow. Something was wrong. They had gotten a text from Riku, telling them which room both Saïx and Marluxia were so they followed behind Axel. Marluxia was apparently closer, and by the way Axel reacted, easier to deal with. Soon they arrived at the room. Opening the door they walked in, Marluxia was standing in the room, looking at a rose in his hand almost absentmindedly. Ven felt the dread grow. Marluxia turned around.

“Ah Axel, it’s good to see you again.” Marluxia said. Axel laughed.

“What can I say, this place never really let’s go of you.” Marluxia laughed slightly.

“I suppose.” Marluxia looked at Ven and Sora.

“You make some new friends Axel?” He asked. Axel huffed.

“From what I hear Ven’s an old friend of yours.” Marluxia looked at Ven. Ven walked closer to Marluxia. Something was wrong.

“Marluxia, don’t you remember me?” Ven asked. Marluxia looked at him long and hard before shaking his head.

“I can’t say I do.” Ven wilted. Was that it, Marluxia didn’t remember him, and he just leaves it at that. No way.

“You really don’t? We’ve known each other for years.” Ven started. “We first met because of your sister, she was playing on the pier and fell over, you didn’t know how to swim and were crying. I was there by chance and saved her. You were holding her repeating thank you over and over.” Marluxia looked at his in confusion.

“Or how when I offered to teach you to swim and we spent so many nights just swimming on the beach side, or how you loved being underwater and seeing all the creatures swim by. Or how you and your sister moved towns after you were falsely accused of a crime, and how you told me one night that your real name is Lauriam but you ‘didn’t want anyone calling you that as you left that name with the other town’.” Marluxia held a hand to his head, a soft grown coming from him.

“Or how you spent countless nights looking for Strelitzia after she disappeared, how worried you were, how angry you were at yourself. How you came to me when she didn’t show up, how we looked under the ocean in hopes of finding her. How you left to find her.” Ven had tears in his eyes. Marluxia let out a hiss in pain, grabbing at his head. Ven looked at him.

“What about how we would go out, just the two of us and do nothing. How we would sit under the stars and you would tell me all the names of the constellations, how I would show you the best areas to watch the schools of fish swim by. Or how we would walk the beach or swim the waves together, side by side. Marluxia please, do you really not remember me.” Ven choked out. Marluxia looked at him, his eyes glossed over.

“V…e..n.?” Marluxia asked weakly, suddenly black shadows erupted from his feet, wrapping around him. Ven looked on in horror.

“Marluxia… you didn’t.” The shadow moved, slowly disappearing in front of them. Ven realising what it was doing ran at it, desperately reaching out.

“NO!” He yelled, trying to reach the now closing dark portal. Just as he touched it, it faded, leaving only wisps of cold air behind. Ven sank to the floor. Sora ran over to him, putting his hands on his shoulders, consoling. Ven was crying, tears freely falling down his face. Axel looked away. He knew what he needed to do. Looking at Sora the two nodded, and Axel left the room.

Walking towards the room Riku had said Saïx was in was nerve racking. Axel was worried, and scared but also tired of all the bullshit. He wanted his friend back, the person who always had his back, the man who would sneak into secret places with him just to try find a friend. Axel wondered if that person really existed anymore. Reaching the room Axel flung open the door, subtlety unneeded. Inside the room was Saïx, sitting at his desk. He didn’t even look up.

“I don’t have words to spare on traitors.” Saïx simply said. Axel felt his blood boil.

“What did Xemnas tell you to say that, or did you have an original thought for once.” Saïx looked at him.

“I wasn’t talking about your betrayal to the Organisation.” Saïx said, glaring at him.

“Really, funny cause it seems like just by being in this Organisation makes us traitor to her. You know, not even a day out of that hell hole I found out information on her, on Skuld.” Saïx twitched.

“It’s amazing what you can learn from just asking, instead of, you know torturing innocent merfolk who are just trying to live.” Saïx stood up.

“Well then, has asking told you where she is, why she disappeared, who took her, why they took her? Cause you’re right, asking can help.” Axel looked at Saïx wearily.

“Xemnas isn’t of any help any longer, but he did lead me to someone who can help.” The two stood, inches apart.

“So that’s what you chose, to jump on the next bandwagon no matter the cost.”

“It’s what’s needed to be done.” Axel laughs.

“Fine then, but when your plan fails, I’ll be there to bring you back, and tell you I told you so.” Saïx walked past him, straight out the door. Axel waited for his footsteps to fade before slamming his fist on the table. Damn it, why was Saïx always like that. Axel straightened up, and went back to Sora and Ven, they still had the big boss to take care of.

\--------------------------------

Aqua had just gotten the last text when she saw Zack and his group rock up. Sliding her phone away she quickly walked towards the group. Zack smiled.

“Hey Aqua, everything good in there?” He asked. Aqua nodded.

“By the sounds of it the plans working, we’ve got almost every member by this point.” Zack let out a whistle. Turning around he looked at his small group.

“Ok men, lets fall in, it's time to clean up.” The group nodded before piling in, splitting up into groups going towards the main rooms. Aqua looked at Zack who simply smiled.

“Shall we.” He said with a wink. Aqua laughed, pushing him slightly before going in. They headed towards the main meet up point, once everyone was together, they would confront Xemnas. Making her way down the halls Aqua watched as members of the organisation were led out, their hands bound. Finally, they made it to the meeting point. Everyone else was already there. Kairi waved enthusiastically, making Aqua laugh.

“Everything go ok?” She asked, Kairi nodded, quickly going into a story of how she took down one of the members by herself. As Kairi finished her tale, they heard a clapping. Quickly everyone went on defensive, looking up to see Xemnas walking towards them.

“My my, what an exciting story. It’s a shame to hear how easily my men were taken down though.”

“Xemnas!” Aqua, Terra and Naminé yelled. Xemnas looked at them.

“What did you do to Eraqus!” Terra yelled. Xemnas looked at them bored.

“I didn’t do anything, that man may have abandoned us but he was still my father at one point. The person you should be asking is Xehanort.” Terra froze at the name. Naminé quickly put herself in front of the group.

“Xemnas, why, why did you kill my family!” She yelled. Everyone looked at Naminé in surprise. Xion stood close by to Naminé, ready to protect her if needed. Xemnas looked at her.

“Ah yes, Naminé. It has been quite some time since we met. Though, it was far more recent for you wasn’t it.” Naminé looked surprised. “It is of no consequence to me either way, but your family was a hindrance and so it had to be removed. It posed a threat to the company, and had to be eliminated.” Naminé felt tears in her eyes. Xemnas took a step forward.

BANG

Stopping suddenly Xemnas looked down, his chest bleeding, blood seeping through his shirt. He coughed blood. Turning around he was Xigbar.

“You..” Xigbar laughed.

“Hey no hard feeling but work it work. I got orders from the old man to off you while I had the chance. And hey you said it yourself, this company getting taken down poses a threat to the company, so you have to be eliminated.” Xigbar smirked.

“So, this is what he thinks of his own children, simple puppets he can use.” Xemnas laughed, more blood dripping out his mouth. Xigbar shrugged. Turning away Xigbar walked away, his gun lazily carried in his hand.

“See you all at the top, you’ve got a long way till then.”

The group froze, unsure what to do. Xemnas turned around, facing the group before he sunk to the ground. The group surrounded him, unsure of how to help. Xemnas laughed again, quickly falling into a coughing fit. He looked at Aqua and Terra.

“If you really want to get vengeance for Eraqus, then you would need to take on Xehanort. But Ansem won’t let you get that close. Ansem’s different, he doesn’t monopolise, or learn the trade, he used magic.” The group looked at him in surprise.

“Your brother’s a mage?” Aqua asked. Xemnas nodded.

“He is strong, with naturally strong ties to the darkness, your only hope of beating him is light.” Xemnas coughed.

“Why help us?” Roxas asked. Xemnas thought on it for a bit.

“All my life I have been raised to not want or need emotions, yet in my final moments I find myself longing for my companions, for the members of the organisation.” Xemnas’s eyes slowly closed. The group stood there unsure what to do. Zack went to Xemnas’s body, giving him on final check before looking at the time. He tapped Aqua on the shoulder.

“We should leave.” She nodded, herding everyone else out. Everyone left, a numbness washing over them. This was it, they had defeated Organisation 13, but at what cost. Piling into the two cars the group went back to the labs to think.

\------------------

Sitting on the roof a figure watched as the members were taken away one by one. Years of work all thrown away so fast. He strummed his sitar. It wasn’t his problem, after all he was only an observer. He waited as he heard the clear sound of footsteps.

“Man, you took your time.” He said. The person laughed.

“Sorry we can’t all be as fast as you, but Xemnas can be hard to find if he wants to be.” He nodded.  
Standing up he brushed off his coat.

“Well then, let’s go.”


	15. Chapter 15

1 week later

“In recent news, fame business owner Xemnas Shisen was found dead inside his own establishment. It has been confirmed that his company Organisation 13 was dealing in illegal poaching and selling of rare and endangered species. Most of his members have been arrested and brought in for questioning.”

“That’s right, it’s said that this will be a simple case, seeing as there has been tons of evidence gathered against Xemnas and his company. It is said that two of his members will testify against the man and his company. “

“This must be a huge hit on his family company, after all, Xemnas’s father, Xehanort Shisen was the one who originally helped him create Organisation 13.”

“It seems that Xehanort has said nothing on the matter of his son’s illegal activities or death.”

“Yes, the death, that’s where things are strange. It is said that he was shot, and died of blood loss. It is thought that one of his members may be the culprit, not wanting to be outed as a criminal. There is no evidence of who could have done it, and it seems that Xemnas’s death will go unpunished.”

\------------------------------------------

The building was sealed off, police tape lining the outside. There were only a few cops, packing up their equipment from their listless day. Few people were gathered outside the building, stopping to catch a glimpse at the activity. Most were nosy people, those in town with nothing better to do than gossip, others were reporters, those still desperate enough to lurk around the now empty crime scene. 

One man stood out, his clean-cut black suit standing out, his white collar buttoned halfway. His long white hair was slicked back at the front, showing off his piercing yellow eyes. The man’s eyes were focused on the building, watching it as if it were alive. Eventually the man's eyes left the building, turning around the man left, getting in a sleek black car. The engine turned on and he drove away. It was time.

\--------------------------------------------------

Things had started to calm down. After everyone was arrested the group went back to Departure Labs to rest. The group had been exhausted. The next day Zack had come, asking everyone to come and give testimonies about the Organisation and what they group had experienced because of them. Xion and Axel gave their testimonies about working for him, though Xion’s was vaguer and implicated the fact she wasn’t a willing party. The rest all described how they had gotten involved, and from there the group was let go, with Zack asking them to return the next day so they could talk over the new discovery on merpeople.

The Xemnas case became confidential, with only select people knowing about it. With the discovery of merpeople and the need to classify, understand and not cause mass panic or media miss information the government kept everything top secret. The case would take months, maybe years before a final verdict would be truly handed as the introduction of a new species had to be taken into account.

Riku and Kairi went back home, explaining to their families that they had been wrapped up in the case. Kairi wasn’t allowed to leave her house for a week. Axel, Aqua and Terra all went back to their apartments, Axel hadn’t been all too surprised to find it had been messed with. The merfolk all stayed in Departure Labs, with everyone dropping in when they could. And so, the Xemnas case finally calmed down.

\------------------------------------------------

Everyone was in Departure Labs, Kairi had finally been allowed to leave her home, after constant pleading with her father. Everyone was sitting around in the lounge, simply chatting amongst themselves.

“So, what now?” Roxas asked. The group paused.

“I still need to find my friends, and Skuld seems to be the next clue I have.” Ven answered looking down.

“I still need to find Saïx, show him what he’s doing is stupid.” Axel scowled.

“What Xemnas said has been bothering me.” Naminé added. The group looked at her. “He said that if we wanted to go up against Xehanort we would need to go against Ansem, but I’ve been looking into that name and haven’t found anything.” Aqua and Terra looked down.

“Ansem is Xemnas’s twin brother, Xemnas went into the family business but Ansem went off searching. Apparently Xehanort funds all of Ansem’s projects.” Terra explained. Roxas scowled.

“Just who is this Xehanort guy anyway.”

“Yeah, for a human this guy sure knows a lot about merpeople.” Sora added. Riku and Kairi looked at him in confusion.

“What do u mean?”

“You said that Ansem and Xemnas are twins right, well when merpeople have twins the younger twin’s name is an anagram of the elders with an X thrown in.” Sora explained.

“It’s meant to represent the ancient letter kai.” Ven said. Everyone looked at him.

“It does?” Xion asked. Ven looked at her in surprise.

“You didn’t know that?” The merpeople shook their heads.

“Well now we know!” Sora exclaimed. Everyone laughed.

“So Rox is the younger twin, sure doesn’t seem like it.” Axel said. Sora pouted.

“Hey what’s that supposed to mean.” Roxas laughed.

“What’s wrong ‘big bro’.” Sora pouted even more.

“Alright I think that’s enough teasing Sora.” Riku said, Sora smiled jumping onto Riku’s lap, hugging him.

“At least someone cares.” Sora said, sticking his tongue out at Roxas. Riku’s face was bright red. Kairi laughed. The group kept on laughing, throwing jokes and general banter around. The topic of their worried slowly fading into the background. It wouldn’t be forgotten, but for now they were content with simply having fun.

 

A man was sitting at his chair, a simply wooden desk in front him. He was looking up, silently waiting to see who would walk through the door. A simple knock was heard.

“Enter.” The door handle turned.  
A man walked in, his long black and white hair swaying behind him.

“Well the deed’s done, as far as anyone is concerned you had no knowledge of Xemnas’s work.”

“Do you know those responsible?” The old man asked. The other man chuckled softly, reaching into his pocket he produced 10 photos. Some of them were portrait, professionally taken, others were through surveillance footage. The old man grabbed the images, walking over to a wall. Pushing a button, the wall turned revealing a simple clear wall. The older man started pinning up the photos, grouping them. The younger man walked over, moving the photos into groups. He grabbed a marker, writing names under the photos. Eventually the board was complete.

“Xigbar, who are these people?” The older man asked, pointing at the blurrier photos.

“Well, that’s the question isn’t it. The older one with blond hair, he seemed to know Marluxia.” That peaked the old man’s interest.

“These people, I want to meet them.” Xigbar raised an eyebrow.

“Your funeral.” With that he left the room. As Xigbar opened the door he became face to face with another man. The old man turned around spying the man.

“Ansem, enter.” The man Ansem entered, letting Xigbar leave. Xigbar closed the door as he went.

“How was the warehouse?” The old man asked.

“There were signs of magic, quite powerful magic.” Ansem replied. The old man grinned.

“I believe it’s because of these people. Deal with them how you wish but bring them back to me, alive.” He said, pointing to the blurrier photos. Ansem nodded.

“As you wish father.” Xehanort smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, i just wanna thank you all for reading to the end... of this arc! Thats right, you can probably tell but this is part of a series, this is the first of three so look forward to those.
> 
> I'll be taking a week off, so i can edit my work to make it readable, so i'll start uploading the second arc on the 11th, AUS time. 
> 
> Thanks again. : )

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, its been a while since i've written fics and after finishing the first arc of this series i decided to actually post it. I'll make sure to post in the notes what type of fish everyone's tails are as they appear so look forwards to that.
> 
> Also i'll try post every Tuesday and Friday.
> 
> Tumblr: Supersas129


End file.
